Late evening tornado kills at least 5 people, injures many and destroys homes, Cooke County sheriff says

A tornado that swept across the Cooke-Denton County line Saturday evening killed at least five people, injured many others and destroyed homes in and around Valley View, the Cooke County sheriff said Sunday , Ray Sappington.

The storm system hit a mobile home and manufactured home community south of Valley View and west of Interstate 35, Sappington said in an update broadcast on the Weather Channel.

“We currently have five confirmed deaths and, unfortunately, I think that number will increase,” Sappington said.

Sappington told The Associated Press that the victims included three family members who were found in a home near Valley View, a town of fewer than 1,000 people.

“There’s nothing left of that house,” he told the AP. “All that's left is a trail of debris. The devastation is quite severe.

People injured in the storm were transported to area hospitals by ground and air ambulances, but the number of injuries in the county was not immediately known, Denton County Community Relations Director Dawn said. Cobb, in a press release. Sappington declined to provide an estimate of the number of people hospitalized.

Authorities said FRF Estates, a mobile home and trailer park in Valley View, was hit. .

“We have a lot of crews, a lot of assets here in this area, fighting their way through it,” Sappington said just before 3 a.m. “We pray for those who are missing, but also that we can still find the injured.”

Sappington said the neighborhood of about 50 to 75 homes suffered “heavy damage.” The total path of destruction was approximately “three to four miles from west to east” in the southern part of Cooke County, near the Denton County line.

Fallen trees and damaged power lines made the search and rescue process difficult, he said.

He spoke outside a Shell gas station which he said “has taken a big hit.” Sappington said several motorists stopped at the gas station to seek shelter during the storm.

He “absolutely” believes that people hiding in toilets saved lives, he told the assembled media.

“Surprisingly, we didn't have any serious injuries there,” Sappington said in front of the badly damaged business.

About 40 to 60 people were bused from that gas station to a QuikTrip in Gainesville that was serving as a reunification center, he said.

According to the Denton Fire Department's account on X, formerly Twitter, four medics were sent to rescue at Marina Circle at Lake Ray Roberts, where several victims were believed to be trapped.

At 10:24 p.m. Saturday, the National Weather Service issued a dramatic bulletin: “SEEK SHELTER NOW!!! Era and Valley View in the direct path of this possible tornado. A strong tornado could develop quickly.

This was followed at 10:40 a.m. by another shelter-seeking video announcing: “Tornado observed on observation video moving east.” Will soon cross I-35 between Valley View and Sanger.

Denton County emergency sirens could be heard around 10:42 p.m.

Oncor was reporting about 77,000 outages in North Texas around 7:45 a.m. Sunday.

The destruction continued during a dark and deadly month in the United States. Tornadoes that hit Iowa this week left at least five people dead and dozens injured. A tornado in Temple damaged structures and injured more than 30 people in Texas on Wednesday.

April saw the second highest number of tornadoes ever recorded in the country.

This story will be updated.

Photographer Elias Valverde II and the Associated Press contributed to this report.