Tornado Tears through Northwest Texas, Killing 4

Milton Quintanilla

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By Milton Quintanilla, Crosswalk.com

A tornado made landfall in northwest Texas Wednesday night, killing four and injuring 10 people.

According to NBCDFW, the severe storm struck Matador with hurricane-force winds and hail. Matador is a small town with a population of 570 people. It is located 70 miles northeast of Lubbock, Texas.

Senior forecaster Matt Ziebell with the National Weather Service in Lubbock said the twister later produced 109 mph (175 kph) winds in Jayton, TX and larger hail, approximately 4 inches (10.2-centimeter) in size.

"That is certainly rare to see all at the same time, killer tornadoes, hurricane-force winds and softball-sized hail," Zeibell said, adding that Wednesday "was definitely a rare combination of high-end wind shear and storms of extreme instability."

Derek Delgado, the Public Information Officer with Lubbock Fire Rescue, told Fox Weather that search and rescue efforts resumed Thursday morning.

"Coming in last night from Lubbock, coming in from the south, you really had to pass everything in order to get to where all the command post vehicles were," Delgado said. "It was truly something I've never seen in my career, just the amount of emergency crews from around the state that have come together to help this town is truly remarkable."

"These people's livelihoods, we had a restaurant, you know, completely torn apart. We had doors broken down, residences, you know, demolished," he added. "It's truly devastating, especially with a town this size."

According to a press release, Lubbock Fire Rescue stated that several rescue efforts were launched following the tornado.

"The town of Matador has experienced an unprecedented tornado bringing damaging winds to the town," Lubbock Fire Rescue tweeted. "Agencies from across the South Plains have assisted with search and rescue efforts. These agencies include police, fire and EMS. State resources have arrived to Matador to begin post-disaster operations, including damage assessment and final recovery efforts."

Matador, Texas - Press Release
June 22nd, 2023 05:00 pic.twitter.com/7F4eWdoRXJ
— Lubbock Fire Rescue (@LubbockFireTX) June 22, 2023

Wednesday's tornado comes nearly a week after another twister struck the panhandle town of Perrytown, Texas, leaving three dead and more than 100 injured.

Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for CrosswalkHeadlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.