Woman, 4 Young Grandchildren Killed In Texas Flash Flood
LINDALE, Texas (CBSNewYork)-- A wave of intense thunderstorms is rumbling from Louisiana to Alabama and bringing intense hail and tornadoes to the south.
A 64-year-old woman and her four young grandchildren were killed in Texas flash floods and a tornado touched down in Lindale, Texas earlier Saturday.
The system spawned tornadoes over East Texas, including the one that destroyed a sporting goods store in the town of Lindale.
The manager, Sterling Baptiste, said the two employees who were inside survived by running into a fitting room.
"Not only those two, but we were able to get everyone out next door at the Dollar Tree," Baptiste told CBS2's Manuel Bojorquez.
Sixty miles south in Palestine, Texas, however, the storms triggered deadly flash floods. Some residents said the water was as high as 18 feet within minutes.
Marion Stevens' neighbor, 64-year-old Lenda Asberry and her four grandchildren ages six to nine drowned.
"Once the water receded, that's when we started finding the bodies," Stevens said.
Dangerous hail descended over parts of the southern plains, leaving behind damage in Coweta, Oklahoma, where Heath Underwood is an emergency manager.
"The large hail came all at once, there was no small hail," he said.
Back in Lindale, shelter for the Reeve family was a narrow hallway.
"This is where we were right here, door shut, door shut, two mattresses," Reeve said.
The tornado shifted their house several feet of its foundation as they clutched onto their daughters, including four-month-old Rowan.
Emergency officials estimated nearly 100 homes in the county were damaged or destroyed.