3 Die as Twisters Hit Texas

WESTMINSTER, Texas — One survivor said it was like a thunderstorm that “went crazy” as twisters ripped through rural north Texas, reducing homes to concrete slabs and killing three people, including a teenager cowering in the stairwell of his home.

At least 26 homes were destroyed in the storms that hit late Tuesday and early Wednesday. Ten people were hospitalized and dozens were treated at the scene for minor injuries.

A couple in their 80s were found dead in a destroyed mobile home in Westminster, about 45 miles northeast of Dallas, Collin County Fire Marshal Steve Deffibaugh said. A 14-year-old boy was killed in neighboring Grayson County when a chimney collapsed on him.

“It sounded like a regular thunderstorm, then it went crazy,” said Cathy Dotson, who huddled on the floor of her Westminster home with her grandchildren when a tornado hit.

Christy Adame, who lives half a mile from the home where the elderly couple died, took shelter in a closet with her husband and two sons.

When they emerged, she found her horse barn gone, one of her horses dead in a tree and the smell of propane, which she feared could cause an explosion.