Houston Braces for Flooding and Tornadoes as West Texas Wildfires Burn

Texas firefighters gained the upper hand over historic wildfires as violent weather closed in on urban centers and residents of Dallas and Austin sought shelter from tornadoes.

The largest cluster of blazes that erupted late last week west of the Dallas metropolitan area was 60% contained as of late Monday, the Texas A&M Forest Service said in a tweet.

While the fire threat remains high in the state’s western plains, tornado warnings blared across the state’s central corridor. In the North Texas town of Jacksboro, a twister touched down, raking homes, a high school and an animal shelter. 

Statewide, the number of homes and businesses without power stood at about 40,000, according to PowerOutage.us.

Read more: Extreme wildfires set to get worse globally, says UN

The storms were spawned by a clash of weather systems rolling in from the Rocky Mountains and the Gulf of Mexico. Houston, the fourth-largest U.S. city, braced for heavy rain, slashing winds and dangerous hail through Tuesday morning, according to the U.S. Storm Prediction Center.

In addition to tornadoes, the Texas Panhandle and parts of Oklahoma were under blizzard warnings and could see 5 inches of snow (13 centimeters) and 65-mile-an-hour winds.

In the fire zone, more than 400 head of cattle and other livestock have perished and 110 displaced by fire are being housed in temporary shelters, according to the Texas Animal Health Commission.

The storms are being propelled “a classic spring severe weather setup” as powerful storm sweeping over the Rocky Mountains taps into a deep reservoir of moist warm air coming out of the Gulf of Mexico, said Zack Taylor, a senior branch forecaster at the weather prediction center. In addition to the wind and thunderstorm risk, eastern Texas, as well as parts of Louisiana and Arkansas, will face the potential for flash flooding.

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