Severe storms sweep through North Texas, leaving behind damage & debris
FORT WORTH (CBSNewsTexas.com) — Large trees fell on top of homes and garages, blocked roads and left a wide field of debris for people to cleanup in neighborhoods on the west side of Fort Worth Thursday.
Severe storms from the night before had wind gusts up to 70 mph, according to the National Weather Service.
Damage was widespread in the Ridglea Country Club Estates neighborhood. A massive tree blocked the main road in and out of the community, and took several hours to remove because of a hive of bees that was living in the trunk of the fallen tree.
On the banks above Mary's Creek, a massive tree snapped in half, falling directly on top of Dorothy Bodoin's garage. The ceiling collapsed, the walls bowed out and her two cars—one of them brand new—were stuck inside.
She had gone to bed after the storms blew through Wednesday night, not even realizing the damage had been done.
"Woke up this morning with my neighbor calling, and saying, 'Have you stepped outside yet?'" she said.
Down the street, Darlene Householder was in a similar situation, with a huge tree falling across her driveway and toward a neighboring home. Work crews spent much of the afternoon trying to just clear a path to get the cars out, leaving the giant stump, and root ball that ripped out of the front lawn for another day.
"I didn't even know that had happened until we hurried back inside, and then when I looked out the front, [I] saw it was down," she said.
Along Camp Bowie Boulevard, the wind ripped the roofing off a commercial building, blowing it across the street into several vehicles at a car dealership, breaking out windows.
Fencing was blown down around tennis courts at Western Hills High School. The Fort Wort Independent School District was not immediately able to comment on other damage to the school or to other district facilities.
City of Fort Worth code compliance, and parks and recreation crews were moving through the Ridglea neighborhood, removing tree branches and debris.
A fire department spokesman said there were no reports of any injuries from the storm damage.