At least 23 injured after a large tornado and gigantic hail hit Salado, Texas
Image credit: WFAA (stillshot)
At least 23 people were injured after a large tornado swept through the village of Salado, Texas on Tuesday, April 12, 2022, destroying or damaging 15 – 20 homes. Salado is located in Bell County, between Waco and Austin.
“There’s not much left. Large trees are uprooted and overturned and stripped. Buildings really reduced to rubble in many locations. Power lines, power poles, are scattered all over the place. It’s pretty devastating,” Bell County Judge David Blackburn said.
The tornado was on the ground for about 11 km (7 miles).
12 of those injured were transported to hospitals and one person was critically injured, Blackburn said.
Meteorologists said the tornado that hit Salado might have been at least EF-3 or stronger.
The same supercell also dumped gigantic hail – up to 14 cm (5.5 inches) in diameter, a very rare occurrence anywhere in the world.
This was also just one of several tornadoes that caused widespread damage in central Texas on Tuesday afternoon.
Several tornadoes were also reported in Iowa:
48 500 customers are currently without power in Texas, down from 100 000 on Tuesday night. 65 300 are without power in Louisiana and 10 046 in New Mexico, as of 12:00 UTC on April 13.
Meanwhile, near-blizzard conditions continue over portions of the north-central U.S. and the southern Canadian Prairies.
Teo Blašković founded The Watchers in 2011 and edited it until 2026, covering seismic and volcanic activity, extreme weather, space weather and near-Earth objects. Articles on this page are his archive.
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