Storms Bearing Fierce Winds Kill 2 in Texas

Fast-moving thunderstorms that killed two people whipped parts of Texas and Louisiana with high winds, hail as big as softballs, tornadoes and heavy rain during the night, while a snowstorm developed Saturday over Montana.

Thunderstorms also blew across parts of Mississippi and Arkansas. Travelers’ advisories were issued for the mountains of the Northwest, and snow also fell over parts of North Dakota and Maine.

High wind from the thunderstorms downed trees and power lines in Dallas and in northeastern Texas late Friday and early Saturday, and rain flooded freeway underpasses, causing numerous accidents, authorities said.

Girl, 14, Killed

A 14-year-old girl was killed when a tree fell on her mobile home east of Kilgore, Tex., Rusk County sheriff’s dispatcher Elaine Mitchell said.

Another person was killed when his single-engine plane went out of control during a hailstorm and crashed on a residential driveway early Saturday in the Dallas suburb of Addison, police said.

Air traffic controllers in Fort Worth reported that the last radio message from the pilot was that hail had knocked out his windshield.

Hail as big as softballs bombed Oak Cliff, near Dallas, and baseball-sized hailstones fell at Denton.

Wind tore the roof off a store in downtown Kilgore, overturned mobile homes and caused a fire in one mobile home.

1.94 Inches of Rain

Parts of Dallas County got 1.94 inches of rain in 45 minutes during the morning, the National Weather Service said.

The thunderstorms spawned a few tornadoes early Saturday in northern Louisiana, including one that destroyed a mobile home and injured three people in Franklin Parish. Wind gusting to 60 m.p.h. blew out windows at St. Joseph.

J. W. Dean, Franklin Parish assistant coordinator for emergency preparedness, said downed trees knocked out power for a time in parts of the parish, but most service was restored before dawn.

Scattered wind damage was reported in Mississippi.