Tornadoes wreak havoc in Texas: Photos of the aftermath

Cleanup is now underway, after devastating tornadoes hit Texas on Thursday night. At least four people have died and dozens injured after storms ripped through the South.

Rescuers are still searching for people reported missing.

In the affected Texas Panhandle town of Perryton, local Fire Chief Paul Dutcher told ABC News that the tornado’s path was estimated to be a mile long and a quarter-mile wide. Dutcher added that at least two and a half blocks in the downtown area were “completely wiped out” and 200 homes destroyed.

Perryton Fire Emergency Services said on Facebook that the firehouse took a “direct hit” from Thursday night’s tornado, but the firetrucks and ambulances survived and were fortunately “driveable.”

The severe weather is expected to continue today as further thunderstorms are forecast for northeastern Texas. “A few storms may become severe, with large hail and damaging winds with the primary hazards,” according to the National Weather Service.

Images from Perryton show buildings reduced to mounds of rubble, with damage to cars in the tornado’s path. As of Friday morning, more than a half-million customers in the South were without power, with 224,000 homes affected in Texas alone. On Thursday, the National Weather Service documented seven tornadoes hitting Texas and Oklahoma.

Fifty million Americans have now been put under a severe weather warning, CNN reported, after two days of devastating storms. Heat alerts have been issued, with further storms and hail expected to hit later on Friday. “Large hail and damaging thunderstorms winds are possible across parts of the central High Plains, Southeast U.S. and Mid-Atlantic,” the National Weather Service said.

Elsewhere in Florida, forecasters are predicting record-breaking highs of 95 degrees for this day in June. Areas in South Florida have been hit with a heat warning that will last until Friday evening.