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The children, who were 3 and 8, were being driven home by their parents on a rural county road near Pollok, Texas — about 130 miles northeast of Houston — when a tree fell on their car, said Capt. Alton Lenderman of the Angelina County Sheriff’s Office.
The children, who were in the back seat, were pronounced dead at the scene.
“They were at the wrong place at the wrong time,” Lenderman said. “The tree fell just as they were going under it.”
The National Weather Service said severe storms, and damaging wind and hail, hit many areas across the South, particularly from eastern Texas to western Alabama. There were multiple reports of tornadoes.
Photos showed destroyed homes in Franklin, Texas, about 120 miles northwest of Houston. Personal belongings and pieces of wall and furniture were strewn everywhere, with trees scattered across the ground. About a dozen people were injured, although the injuries did not appear to be life-threatening, The Associated Press reported.
Reports of severe damage also emerged in Cherokee County, particularly at the Caddo Mounds State Historic Site. Local officials said dozens were injured there, according to KLTV, a local television station.
The site said on Facebook that it was “closed until further notice.”
“I’ve seen tornadoes but nothing like this,” Sheriff James Campbell of Cherokee County told the station.
Jeremy Jackson, the chief of police in Alto, Texas, told KLTV that emergency workers were making sure people were not trapped in houses.
Lenderman said that by Saturday evening, the storms had largely moved on from Angelina County. He said some power lines were knocked down and other trees felled.