Disasters Declared in Arkansas, Texas Following Severe Weather

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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has declared a state of disaster in counties hit in recent days by severe weather that’s included tornadoes, thunderstorms and heavy rains that brought flooding.

Likewise, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson issued a disaster proclamation for 10 counties following Sunday night’s storms that killed two people.

Abbott declared a state of disaster Monday in Bosque, Clay, Denton, Eastland, Gaines, Montague and Van Zandt counties. The declaration authorizes further mobilization of state resources to assist impacted communities.

Severe weather moving through Texas over the last several days has included a tornado that killed at least two people in the East Texas town of Van on Sunday night. A tornado that hit the town of Cisco west of Fort Worth on Saturday night killed at least one person.

The declaration follows an elevated activation of the Texas State Operations Center to enable rapid deployment of state resources.

Hutchinson issued the proclamation for the Arkansas counties of Franklin, Garland, Howard, Izard, Johnson, Montgomery, Newton, Pike, Pope and Searcy counties.

The governor toured damage mostly in the town of Nashville, where two residents were killed, but Hutchinson’s staff says the other counties experienced damage.

Hutchinson says in a statement that Arkansans are familiar with severe weather and offered his condolences to the families of the victims.

The National Weather Service sent investigators to Nashville, and forecasters say it appears an EF-2 storm with winds up to 125 mph had touched down.