West Texas is hit by an intense dust storm that caused multiple crashes, fires and a disaster declaration

High winds west of Texas are developing intense dust storms that caused multiple fires, crashes, gridlock, a disaster declaration and the death of at least one person, according to The Weather Channel.

Various videos on social media showed the traffic accidents, with multiple wrecked cars on the roads and several large trucks overturned.

Potter County Fire and Rescue Department reported that four roads were restricted or closed after some cargo trucks overturned.

Potter County, located in the Texas Panhandle, includes the northern half of Amarillo.

"Visibility is poor at best and zero in places," the agency reported on social media. "If you don't have to be out, please stay where you are."

In addition to traffic problems, the storms and winds generated severe power outages in several states. According to tracker PowerOutage.us, the outages affected 96,000 customers in Texas, 73,000 in Oklahoma, 23,000 in Kansas and 21,000 in Missouri.

As the storms and high winds battered West Texas, The Weather Channel reported that authorities ordered Oklahoma students to shelter indoors as wildfires raged near campus.

Other areas such as Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska, among others, are experiencing severe storms, and more intense winds are expected to occur through Saturday morning.

"This dangerous storm system will continue brewing in the overnight hours, as today’s level 4 risk of severe weather slowly escalates to a 'high risk' (level 5) for tomorrow," The Weather Channel reported. "The overnight threat, stretching from the Midwest to the Mississippi Valley, will continue to bring devastating storms, possibly impacting the areas around St. Louis and Memphis late tonight into early tomorrow."

An estimated 138 million people are at risk for severe storms in the Midwest over the weekend.

According to Meteorology, there are estimates of overnight EF2 category tornadoes that could range from southern Iowa to Jackson, Mississippi, with sustained winds of 113 to 157 mph.