The youngest victim of a tornado that destroyed a small city in the Texas Panhandle and killed three people was an 11-year-old boy, authorities said Friday.
Matthew Ramirez was identified by the Ochiltree County Sheriff’s Office as one of the three victims of the twister that roared through the city of Perryton on Thursday, leaving death and destruction in its wake.
Ramirez was at his family’s trailer when he died, the department said.
The other two victims were Becky Randall, who was in her 60s and was working at her print shop when she died, and Cindy Bransgrove, also in her 60s, who was at a food bank when she perished, the department said.
Randall’s death “definitely, that one hurt for the community,” 25-year-old James Myers, a high school teacher in Perryton, said.
Myers said students have been messaging and emailing him about Randall, who was well-known in the town and owned Perryton Printing.
“She’s just a wonderful person,” Myers said. “For kids to come and tell their teachers that this is affecting me, it means that someone was a remarkable person.”
The names of the dead were released as rescue crews continued to search the ruins and more than 50 people were being treated for injuries at Ochiltree General Hospital in Perryton.
The tornado caused “a lot of damage,” especially to mobile homes and businesses, Ochiltree County Sheriff Terry Bouchard told NBC affiliate KAMR of Amarillo earlier.
Survivors like Myers said the tornado appeared to him to be two twisters that struck simultaneously — and without warning.
“It happened so quickly,” Myers told NBC News. “The sirens didn’t even get to go off before the tornado was touching down.”
Myers said “it was basically two tornadoes that tore through town.”
“The majority of all the damage came from one of the tornadoes going down Main Street,” he said. “It tore up both residential and commercial buildings. I went down there myself to go and check it out. It’s just obliterated.”
Some of the buildings, Myers said, “have totally collapsed.”
“There are bricks lying on the street as well as telephone poles, lights, different kinds of cables for electric wires; AC units are dangling off of buildings and all the power is completely out for the town,” he said. “They say it’s going to be at least two weeks before we get power.”
