POWDERLY, Texas: Tornadoes tore through parts of Texas and Oklahoma on Friday, killing at least one person, injuring two dozens others and leaving dozens of homes and buildings in ruins.
Tornadoes hit hard in McCurtain County, Oklahoma, in the southeastern corner of the state. Cody McDaniel, the county’s emergency manager, confirmed one death although he didn’t immediately provide details.
The small town of Idabel saw a church, medical center and a school torn apart.
“There was total destruction on the south and east sides of Idabel,” Steven Carter, an emergency management coordinator for McCurtain County, told the Texarkana Gazette.
Carter told the paper people were still trapped late Friday.
Gov. Kevin Stitt said search-and-rescue teams and generators were being sent to the Idabel area.
“Praying for Oklahomans impacted by today’s tornadoes,” Stitt tweeted.
Keli Cain of the Oklahoma Emergency Management Office said at least three other counties were also hit by storms, with flash flooding in some areas.
The National Weather Service said tornadoes also were reported in Texas and Arkansas and a storm system was heading toward Louisiana.
In Texas, authorities in Lamar County said at least 50 homes were damaged or destroyed and 10 people were treated at one hospital, including two with critical injuries. No deaths were immediately reported.
Judge Brandon Bell, the county’s highest elected official, declared a disaster in the area, a step in getting federal assistance and funding. Bell’s declaration said at least two dozen people were injured across the county.
One community hit hard was Powderly, about 45 miles (72 kilometers) west of Idabel and about 120 miles (193 kilometers) northeast of Dallas. Both Powderly and Idabel are near the Texas-Oklahoma border.
The Lamar County Sheriff’s Office and Emergency Management said the tornado touched down shortly after 4 p.m. and traveled north-northeast through the communities of Hopewell, Caviness, Beaver Creek and Powderly.
Randi Johnson, chief of the Powderly Volunteer Fire Department, told The Paris News newspaper that she wasn’t aware anyone had been killed but knew of injuries.
“It’s going to take a long time to get this cleaned up, but the community came together,” Johnson said. “It’s really heartbreaking to see.”
Churches opened their doors to serve as shelters for those whose homes were impacted.
1 dead, dozens hurt as tornadoes hit Texas and Oklahoma
https://arab.news/j9a54
1 dead, dozens hurt as tornadoes hit Texas and Oklahoma
- Churches opened their doors to serve as shelters for those whose homes were impacted
Europeans push back at US over claim they face ‘civilizational erasure’
- “Contrary to what some may say, woke, decadent Europe is not facing civilizational erasure,” Kallas told the conference
MUNICH: A top European Union official on Sunday rejected the notion that Europe faces “civilizational erasure,” pushing back at criticism of the continent by the Trump administration.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas addressed the Munich Security Conference a day after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered a somewhat reassuring message to European allies. He struck a less aggressive tone than Vice President JD Vance did in lecturing them at the same gathering last year but maintained a firm tone on Washington’s intent to reshape the trans-Atlantic alliance and push its policy priorities.
Kallas alluded to criticism in the US national security strategy released in December, which asserted that economic stagnation in Europe “is eclipsed by the real and more stark prospect of civilizational erasure.” It suggested that Europe is being enfeebled by its immigration policies, declining birth rates, “censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition” and a “loss of national identities and self-confidence.”
“Contrary to what some may say, woke, decadent Europe is not facing civilizational erasure,” Kallas told the conference. “In fact, people still want to join our club and not just fellow Europeans,” she added, saying she was told when visiting Canada last year that many people there have an interest in joining the EU.
Kallas rejected what she called “European-bashing.”
“We are, you know, pushing humanity forward, trying to defend human rights and all this, which is actually bringing also prosperity for people. So that’s why it’s very hard for me to believe these accusations.”
In his conference speech, Rubio said that an end to the trans-Atlantic era “is neither our goal nor our wish,” adding that “our home may be in the Western hemisphere, but we will always be a child of Europe.”
He made clear that the Trump administration is sticking to its guns on issues such as migration, trade and climate. And European officials who addressed the gathering made clear that they in turn will stand by their values, including their approach to free speech, climate change and free trade.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Saturday that Europe must defend “the vibrant, free and diverse societies that we represent, showing that people who look different to each other can live peacefully together, that this isn’t against the tenor of our times.”
“Rather, it is what makes us strong,” he said.
Kallas said Rubio’s speech sent an important message that America and Europe are and will remain intertwined.
“It is also clear that we don’t see eye to eye on all the issues and this will remain the case as well, but I think we can work from there,” she said.
