Update: For more on the governor’s comments following Saturday’s deadly storms, click here.
Gov. Greg Abbott will speak in Cooke County Sunday afternoon in the wake of severe storms that killed at least seven people and devastated multiple communities last night in North Texas.
According to a news release, Abbott will receive a briefing before holding a news conference at 4:15 p.m. in Valley View on the “state’s ongoing response.”
Abbott will be joined by Congressman Michael C. Burgess, State Representative David Spiller, Cooke County Judge John Roane, Cooke County Sheriff Ray Sappington and Texas Division of Emergency Management Assistant Chief Kevin Starbuck, among other state and local officials.
The storm system swept through southern Cooke County shortly before 10 p.m. Saturday, pummeling a community of mobile homes and manufactured houses west of Interstate 35 and south of Valley View, a town of less than 1,000 people.
Sappington told The Associated Press that of the seven people killed, two were children, ages 2 and 5, and three were family members who were found in one home.
According to the Cooke County Emergency Management and Fire Marshal’s Office, “numerous injuries of varying degrees” have been reported. Authorities declined to provide an estimation of total injuries as they continued to assess damage Sunday.
The National Weather Service said two crews from their Fort Worth office and one from their San Angelo office were working to survey the destruction.
Information from crews would be available late Sunday afternoon, at the earliest, the agency said.
