Damage Reported After Severe Storms Rattle DFW
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DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - Severe storms rattled North Texas early Wednesday, prompting Thunderstorm Warnings and Tornado Warnings in several counties. Wind speeds in parts of DFW registered in the 90 mph range at times, radar estimates indicated. Many residents will spend Wednesday assessing the damage.
At one point during the storms, power flashes could be seen from the CBS 11 News studio's tower camera along Interstate-30, where a Tornado Warning was in effect.
As of 4:15 a.m. on Wednesday morning, Oncor was reporting at least 250,000 customers without power across Dallas County and Tarrant County. Police in Keller and Mansfield were also reporting early Wednesday morning that power lines were down in numerous areas around their cities.
The intersection at Highway 377 and North Tarrant Parkway in Keller was closed due to "power poles and lines down," police said. Officers from Keller, Watauga and Fort Worth were helping to divert traffic around the typically busy intersection. Sheds at a nearby Home Depot store were also blown over.
Steven Samreth was driving during the storm. He pulled into a gas station in front of the Home Depot store to seek shelter. He described what he saw. "The electricity poles was falling down in front of us," Samreth said. "I did thought I was going to die."
In south Fort Worth, the brick facade ripped away from a building at the Hunter's Green apartment complex, leaving several vehicles covered in brick, concrete and debris. Some cars were extremely damaged, one belonging to TCU football player John Diarse. "Heard a lot of wind, rain last night. Didn't think it would come to this," he said after finding his car covered in bricks. "To walk outside and see is devastating."
Similar damage was reported all over North Texas -- including Kaufman County, the Oak Cliff area of Dallas, Arlington, Grand Prairie, Rockwall, The Colony, Denton County and the neighborhoods near the TCU campus in Fort Worth.
Bonds Ranch Road in north Fort Worth, just west of Highway 287, was also blocked early Wednesday due to a downed power pole. Additionally, at least one north Fort Worth homeowner reported a hole in his roof and a missing chimney.
A transmission line fell across Interstate-20 near Mountain Creek Parkway and shut down the freeway in both directions early Wednesday morning. Crews worked quickly to clean up the mess. Check the traffic map for the latest updates.
Steve Howie with Kaufman County Emergency Management said that about six homes had been damaged in Combine.
The Hidden Cove RV Park in The Colony reported tree debris and damage to some homes. There was also one minor injury.
A home in the Dalton Ranch neighborhood in Rockwall appeared to have its front sheared off, and other homes looked to be badly damaged. Mayor Jim Pruitt reported one minor injury.
"We had a power pole that fell onto a house," stated Jamie Moore with Johnson County Emergency Management. There were no injuries reported. "We hadn't noticed a whole lot of significant building damage, but we had some 12-inch diameter trees that were down." Moore expects additional damage reports throughout Wednesday morning.
And this is just a small sample of the damage that was reported before sunrise on Wednesday. Many other people across DFW woke up to some amount of storm damage that became more obvious in the daylight. Check out photographs of the damages that these powerful storms left behind and share your own pictures with us and our users.
Meanwhile, some schools across North Texas will be either delayed or closed entirely Wednesday, including some in Arlington and Mansfield.
