Tornadoes kill eight in U.S

Eight people are reported to have been killed in Texas in new tornadoes, raising the death toll to 26 in a week of storms in several U.S states.

Five people died when their cars were reportedly blown off a motorway in Garland, near Dallas. Another three bodies were found in nearby towns.


Officials also said Texas and Oklahoma could suffer a “historic blizzard,” bringing up to 16in (41cm) of snow, the BBC reports.

The storms across the South have been unusually powerful for winter.

Reports from Texas said churches were destroyed, cars mangled and trees toppled across a wide area.

Garland police believed that “winds from a tornado that passed through” the town late on Saturday were the cause of car accidents, Melinda Urbina from the Dallas County Sheriff’s office, told the BBC.

At least five people were reported dead in the cars.

Ms Urbina said the winds “tossed the cars around,” and the vehicles were later found below Interstate 30, about 15 miles (24km) north-east of Dallas.

She also urged local residents to stay off the roads.

Police officers in Garland are now trying to determine whether they were any other casualties at the crash site.

“We’re dealing with darkness out here,” police spokesman, Mike Hatfield, was quoted as saying by the Dallas News website.

“All of the street lights and highway lights are out,” he added.