Deadly tornado hits Mexico as storms batter Texas

At least 13 people died and dozens more were injured after a freak tornado ripped through the northern Mexican city of Ciudad Acuna on Monday morning, flipping over cars and tearing down homes, the government said.

Among the dead were three children as the whirlwind damaged an estimated 750 homes in the city across the Rio Grande from Del Rio, Texas, said Jesus Garcia, spokesman for the local state of Coahuila.

Walls and ceilings collapsed under the force of the whirlwind, which traveled at a speed of 31 mph (50 km per hour) and blew gusts over 124 mph, the government said, taking the border city unawares in the early hours of Monday.

Meanwhile, in the southern United States, 12 people were listed as missing in Texas, including eight from an extended family from Corpus Christi who were vacationing in a home in Wimberley, after heavy storms and flash floods.

The building was washed into the raging Blanco River, according to officials and the family’s church.

Texas Army National Guard and other rescue crews scoured the river bank on Monday to search for the missing.

Wimberley schools will be closed on Tuesday and a curfew in Wimberley and San Marcos was extended for a second night on Monday, Hays County officials said.

“We’ve been through bad things before, we’ve been through floods before, never been through one like this,” Wimberley mayor Steve Thurber said