Tornado Tracked Completely Through Heart Of Perryton, Texas

to get us more on what the conditions are like right now after the storm has pushed out we're going to bring in live storms media storm tracker Brian Emfinger he drove through the path of Destruction destruction there in parents in Texas and so Brian um kind of give us an update on what we've been looking at your live visual from time to time it seems like a lot of people are gathering around and just kind of looking at what's left yeah it's a it's a bit uh from the last time I talked to you guys um there are a lot of firefighters and and First Responders Milling about uh he's dropped on a conversation and they uh we're talking about you know clearing this area where I'm at so they've basically went through and and you know identified whatever they needed to identify and have moved on to other areas you know people are already out and about you know seeing people coming up to uh people on the scene and just you know huge hugs and fears um you know right in front of me that that's actually a home if y'all have the live video up right now uh it's actually a home in the middle of the road and people are already trying to by hand you know pick up pieces of this home and get it out of the road um you know and then on the other side of town in the northwest you know my my thoughts are just with that mobile home park and and you know the fire that was spreading through the debris um just a a really horrible sight up to the Northwest part of town you know Brian at one point we took one of your shots and I could see someone put her arm around I don't know if it was a friend or a family member or just a neighbor um The Hope is that everybody's okay and you know you can replace personal items but but human life is of utmost importance and when you see this sort of damage um it's bad you mentioned that we're looking at a home I can see the tractor kind of going in I mean this tornado went through about two hours ago it's it's incredible that you already have people sorting through everything trying to clear things up um have you heard anything about you know maybe anybody not able to track down a neighbor or a family member does it seem like most people you've talked to everyone has been accounted for at least in their area yeah you know after a tornado of this intensity you know communication are are you know obviously an issue I've had several people message me on on various social media platforms and and I was actually able to confirm a few addresses that were not in the past with the tornado but you know people you know were worried uh as far as here um I I believe that like I said they've identified everyone here but with the way the communications are you know that's people are pretty much having to to go to the home of the person they know and just physically see if they're okay and I think that's what you're starting to see is people coming up to people um you know and and giving hugs and shedding fears um you know it's just a major disaster it just the tornado tracked completely through the heart of the town right across the middle from Northwest to Southeast um and so it's just a just a horrible horrible situation yeah kind of worst case scenario for the storm movement to take it through and and we're showing you some footage from earlier when you had the Drone up kind of showing how widespread the damage was there's the mobile home park off in the distance so many of those level even one caught fire and that oftentimes is the concern afterwards is when you have this much destruction where there could be gas leaks and there's anything that could ignite power lines are down but they're still active and then from your live feed from before though I saw some some kids that are out there and you know they're already cleaning up the debris I saw them with a shovel that was right in front of us where you had that puddle kind of coming through and so this impacts everyone nobody's immune to this and it's difficult Brock I want you to when we talked before it was tough because our connection was in and out the quick onset of this because right now you're looking as at blue skies and it seemed like before this event for the most of the day it was blue skies for everybody a regular Thursday afternoon yeah and that's the thing that I'm most concerned about as far as you know whenever we find out about unique you know injuries and hopefully no fatalities um you know watching the tornado it it touched down and and it formed the the rotation and everything it came together very quick probably you know usually I have a pretty good idea if a storm is about the tornado five minutes before this tornado I would have said absolutely not it got it back together very quickly and unfortunately the timing was such that it it touched down right as it came into town and so the first time from the Northwest side of Perryton um it's actually a bunch of farm fields and so you know it basically formed just as it came into town and so the first part of town that it hit was that mobile home park and you know whenever I was watching the tornado it did not look especially strong at that point it actually looked much stronger as it got through town and into the industrial part but it just goes to show you you can't tell you know exactly how strong a tornado is just by looking at it because you know when that when it went through the Northwest part and first came into the town I mean it just wiped out you know at least the third maybe almost a half of that mobile home park uh whether you just can barely even tell you know what's there so um it really was you know I've never really seen that as far as all my you know most of the time the tornadoes either on the ground or or whatever so the fact that it it basically in the worst case scenario because these people you know they know storms they know tornadoes so you know I'm searching people were out you know watching it and those people did not have very long to take refuge if they were you know outside watching that tornado yeah I was trying to think back Brian I couldn't remember I feel like once we took your live feed and you know the National Weather Service also watched the feeds I believe it was your video and maybe there were others but that's what confirmed uh This Tornado for the National Weather Service I was trying to remember if it had even the tornado warning attached to it by the time we saw the tornado through your lens um did the folks there is speaking to them you know you talk about the quickness of a in almost the unexpected expected but unexpectedness right especially for the untrained eye were these folks prepared did they know it was coming did they know maybe even the tornado threat that was going to be into this afternoon um and did they know that this tornado was was basically knocking on their door you know if you know this part of the country I found that most people are pretty weather aware um the it's just the only thing is um I at the very most the tornado warning will simultaneous with the the touchdown there was not going to be a whole lot of time just because it developed so quickly I mean I was watching on radar and and there was a little bit of rotation but like I said if it's five minutes before this tornado you had told me this was going to happen I would have not probably believed it um it it all came together very very rapidly so um you know the National Weather Service that's that's why it's important to have people underground you know that you know Perry sends a little bit between Radars and Dodge City and Amarillo so your race and your radar beam isn't isn't super low to actually be able to see exactly what's going on in the ground so it's very possible that the Weather Service had no idea until they saw the live feed of myself and other people in fact it's probably likely that's what happened yeah and I was looking in so Perryton because you had mentioned they took a direct hit and they're in the county of ocal tree in Texas and right now they have 48 percent of their customers without power and I would imagine everybody in parenting would have a difficult time giving power um because of just what we've seen witnessed here what you've been showing us and the concern Brian is that in the coming days it's going to be very warm very humid and people you know are not going to have power air conditioning may not even have a place to stay so just kind of giving you the Insight of what the aftermath of this is like and how devastating it can be um for you Brian what is your plan do you stay here in Perryton or you can be trying to chase the dry line um I will probably stay a little bit longer um honestly right now I'm kind of stuck and and I would actually cause you know like there's people everywhere so I'm gonna kind of stay here until it calms down a little bit you know my main thing is I don't want to get in the way of anybody First Responders or people dealing with their homes um you know it's a it's a very tough situation um you know whenever you know this has happened um you know these people are going to be needing help you know so much of the town has been damaged that you know they're gonna need help you know whether it's it's you know it's food and what I mean I've seen people just going into piles of rubble and coming out you know with a trash bag full of you know what is most likely just the most important things that they can find you know clothes things like that um there's actually um some bags you know that I see in front of me of people that have kind of you know got things out of out of these Rebel piles um you know so you know this so much of the town was was damaged and and you know for a town like this you know if your home wasn't damaged you certainly probably have a family member or know someone who was so this is uh and the fact that it went right through the center it found um it could take a little while before power is is fully restored um and you mentioned it earlier I did smell a a lot of gas on that Northwest portion of town and that actually might have been why the there was a delay and even people being able to get in there because of obviously um homes that were elected that that had gas leaks and such yeah the immediate threat of that just real quickly the the human strength that you're witnessing in this live visual I mean people are picking up walls right now to try to clear out the road in order to get some access better it's right behind this SUV that's turning around realizing this road is blocked now um but we just witnessed together five six people pick up two walls and push it back over it just just goes you to show how quickly everybody's gathering around together and really sorting through and seeing what they can salvage and and wasting no time um it just again speaks to the human strength and you can see kids there that are getting out to help with this as well um it it takes everybody it takes an army here it's just it's it's tough it's tough to see this because it's everybody's livelihood this was a regular Thursday afternoon that turned into a violent Thursday evening uh for for everyone in Perryton Brian I want to thank you for everything that you you've been doing us you've been telling people ahead of time where the storms are going but then sticking around it truly does show you how great our you know storm trackers are livestorm media and and how they care for everybody um Brian thank you again hopefully you stay safe through the evening time we'll continue to check in with you I'm Amy Freeze welcome to Fox weather's YouTube page we have more great videos on the way so make sure to subscribe to stay updated on all things weather