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Severe Weather Weekend: One Dead as Tornadoes, Floods and Hail Batter Plains

One person was killed and another was in critical condition after a tornado touched down in Cisco, Texas, Saturday as dangerous storms moved through.
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One person was killed when a tornado touched down in Texas Saturday as a series of dangerous storms swept through the Plains, authorities said.

Cisco, Texas, Fire Chief Walter Fairbanks told NBC News that one person was dead, another was critically injured and two more were hurt when a tornado touched down Saturday afternoon. Six structures were damaged, and firefighters were looking for more victims Saturday evening, Fairbanks said.

"There is a considerable amount of damage," Eastland County Judge Rex Fields, who also serves as the county's emergency services coordinator, told The Associated Press. "Homes have been lost."

The National Weather Service said another tornado was confirmed near Truckton, Colorado. Tornadoes were also reported to have touched down in Wichita and Erath counties in Texas; in Cheyenne County, Colorado; and in Cotton and Marshall counties in Oklahoma., the NWS said.

There were 34 reports in all of tornadoes across Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska by 10 p.m. Saturday, but not all of those reports were confirmed, according to the NWS. The threat for severe weather goes through Sunday — Mother's Day — extending a run of violent conditions for the region.

Baseball-sized hail was reported in Comanche, Oklahoma, and hail the size of golf balls fell in southeastern El Paso County in Colorado Saturday the NWS said.

Oklahoma City officials said Saturday that six single-family homes, three businesses, the Maranatha Assembly of God church and 86 mobile homes and RVs were destroyed in severe storms that struck the city on Wednesday. Seventy-six buildings and mobile homes suffered major damage in those storms.

The stormy weather caused havoc with air travel. Departures destined for Dallas/Forth Worth International Airport were averaging delays of more than two hours on Saturday afternoon.

The storm system was set to move slowly eastwards, primarily affecting the Ohio Valley down to Mississippi on Sunday.

In parts of South Dakota, roads were blanketed with snow. Rapid City saw 1.5 inches of snow by noon Saturday, and forecast blizzard conditions near the Black Hills Saturday night and Sunday. Rushville, Nebraska, in the northwestern part of the state near the South Dakota border, got an estimated 5 inches of snow Saturday, the NWS said.

In Shawnee, Oklahoma, the Red Cross opened a shelter Friday night because officials said a Granada Lake dam was close to being topped after heavy rains, threatening homes in one neighborhood. Officials also closed some roads, including part of Interstate 44 in Tulsa.

Heavy rain has swollen Oklahoma creeks and rivers, dramatically increasing the likelihood of flash flooding.

One deluge was so heavy that a 43-year-old Oklahoma City woman drowned after becoming trapped inside her underground storm cellar.

"It just flooded with her in it, and she couldn't get out because it was like a river coming down on top of her," police Sgt. Gary Knight said. "I don't recall it ever raining like that before."

Skylyna Stewart's body was discovered in an older, underground shelter detached from the home.

The 7.1 inches that fell in Oklahoma City was the third-heaviest rainfall for any day on record, dating back to 1890, said state climatologist Gary McManus. Radar data from the part of the city where Stewart's body was recovered indicated as much as 8 to 12 inches may have fallen.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.