Texas Tornadoes Flatten 200 Homes; Curfew Imposed
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FRITCH, Tex. — Authorities instituted a nighttime curfew for this tiny Texas Panhandle town Sunday, a day after a cluster of tornadoes flattened 200 homes, knocked down trees and injured seven people. Nobody was killed.
The curfew was put into effect after reports of looting in the town of 2,335 residents. About 300 homes were damaged, along with the 200 destroyed, authorities said.
The Red Cross had opened a shelter for people left homeless, and damages were estimated at $50 million, state Trooper Wayne Beighle said.
The four tornadoes, which hit Saturday night, were spun off by a violent weather front that rumbled through the area 35 miles northeast of Amarillo.
“The sky was black and clouds were sucking tree branches and everything else up into the sky,” resident Jeanie Bennett said.
The tornadoes uprooted trees, downed power lines and bent light poles over to horizontal angles.
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