An outbreak of wildfires fueled by dry conditions and hurricane-force winds was rapidly spreading across the Texas Panhandle and parts of Oklahoma on Friday, prompting evacuations, wreaking havoc on the roads and leaving thousands without power.
Preliminary reports showed that the fires had destroyed some homes in Oklahoma and that at least three people had died in crashes in Texas, according to officials there.
Emergency crews in both states were scrambling to keep up with all the blazes popping up across the map.
“It’s somewhat alarming how many fires there are and how quickly they are developing,” said Rich Otto, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. “It’s too many to count. Another hour goes by and another half-dozen fires develop.”
As of late Friday afternoon, the greatest concentration of wildfires was in east-central Oklahoma, Mr. Otto said, including near Oklahoma City. “Unfortunately, these fires are spreading into areas where there are decent population centers,” he said.
The city of Stillwater, around 45 miles north of Oklahoma City, issued a mandatory evacuation order Friday night for a zone that covered several square miles. There were active blazes in that area, including structural fires, the Stillwater Emergency Management Agency said on Facebook. It did not elaborate on what kind of structures.
Stillwater is home to Oklahoma State University, which canceled the baseball, softball and tennis events that had been scheduled for Saturday.
A strong storm driving gusty winds and dry air across a parched landscape was fueling dangerous fire conditions across a wide swath of the country, from eastern New Mexico and Colorado to parts of the Midwest. Forecasters warned that more outbreaks appeared likely going into the weekend.
The authorities were urging people to stay off the roads as clouds of thick, red dirt and even thicker clouds of billowing dust created minimal to at times zero visibility.
Martín Gomez, 28, a truck driver, was forced to stop at a truck stop in Canyon, Texas, because of the danger, he said. “My family really doesn’t want me to travel in this,” he said, “but I have to make this delivery.”
Travis Cross, 49, said he and his family were making a trip from South Fork, Colo., to the Texas coast for spring break, but were also forced to stop once they came across overturned vehicles and broken billboards in the Panhandle area.
“It’s been pretty good so far until we started coming straight south,” Mr. Cross said. “It’s been windy, and the car is bouncing around.”
In the region around Lubbock and Amarillo in Texas, Highway Patrol officials reported more than three dozen car crashes. Preliminary reports showed that at least three people had died in crashes in the Amarillo region, according to Sgt. Cindy Barkley with the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Images on social media showed a dystopian view of the area. Emergency workers were confronting a heavy dust storm as they went car by car looking for anyone trapped inside. A man taking one of the videos could be heard saying, “You want to go to Mars? This is Mars.”
More than 85,000 customers were without power across northern Texas and parts of Oklahoma on Friday night, according to poweroutage.us. The authorities warned that rolling blackouts were a possibility to avoid fires caused by downed power lines.
Angela Morland, the owner of Cactus Inn & RV Parking in McLean, Texas, a motel built in the 1950s, said in a phone interview that she had been ordered to evacuate with her guests on Friday afternoon. She was staying in the basement of a Methodist church about 20 miles away. Many people had gotten rooms at her motel to seek refuge from the highway winds.
“Go east,” Ms. Morland, 57, said she told her guests when she learned they had to leave.
Ms. Morland said she could smell the fire when she packed into her vehicle with her dog, a Rhodesian Ridgeback named Stella, and a stranger. She said about 50 other evacuees were staying with her in the church basement.
“I was frightened,” she said.
Alanreed, another small community in Gray County, about 60 miles east of Amarillo, was also advised to evacuate on Friday because of the threat of fire, said Dustin Miller, an emergency management spokesman for the city of Pampa, the county seat. He said that wind gusts in the area had reached 101 miles per hour, diminishing visibility and making travel treacherous.
“It’s dying down slowly, but not enough,” Mr. Miller said.
He said there were no injuries or property damage reported as of Friday afternoon in the county. But at least two semi-trucks had flipped over on Interstate 40.
Fast-spreading fires were not the only danger in some places. Strong gusts caused severe damage to the Washita County Courthouse in New Cordell, Okla., Friday afternoon, spreading debris around the area.
Officials had been anticipating the fierce storms. On Thursday, Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas directed the Division of Emergency Management to deploy all necessary resources to the affected areas ahead of the wildfires.
“With dry conditions, wind gusts and low humidity increasing wildfire danger, Texans are encouraged to make an emergency plan, limit any activities that can cause a spark, and heed the guidance of local officials to keep yourself and your family safe,” he said in a statement.
Much of North Texas remained under a red-flag warning Friday afternoon, which is issued when dry weather and gusty winds are likely to spread wildfires.
The Panhandle, a sparsely populated area, is no stranger to fire disasters. A year ago, downed power lines ignited a wildfire known as the Smokehouse Creek fire, which burned more than a million acres, consuming houses, scorching vast ranch lands and killing livestock. It was the largest blaze on record in Texas.
Lucinda Holt contributed reporting from Abernathy, Texas.
