Storm cell brings hail, high winds

[TexasStooge]

Tornado warnings issued; 4,000 homes in Gainesville lose power

By PAUL MEYER and JON NIELSEN / The Dallas Morning News

Severe thunderstorms, high winds and large hail walloped North Texas on Friday evening as tornado warnings were issued in Denton and Tarrant counties, among others.

Although residents of many cities were urged to seek shelter, no touchdowns or serious damage were immediately confirmed.

Denton sounded its emergency sirens as the storm hit, but the city appeared to be largely unscathed.

"Right now, we have flooding on some of our lower-level streets," said city spokesman John Cabrales. "I have not been able to verify that we've suffered any kind of power disruption. We do have a little bit of tree damage in town."

Jody Gonzalez, Denton County's emergency management coordinator, said he had no reports of damage in business or residential areas.

Fears of severe weather forced officials to shut down the Denton Arts & Jazz Festival, the city's biggest annual event. The three-day festival will resume this morning, Mr. Cabrales said.

A massive storm cell packing large hail and powerful straight-line winds damaged buildings in parts of Cooke and Grayson counties.

"That's a whale of a storm to get baseball [-size] hail and 80- to 90-mph winds at the same time," National Weather Service meteorologist Alan Moller said.

In Gainesville, 4,000 homes in the city of about 15,000 people lost power as golf ball-size hail pelted vehicles and homes.

At the height of the storm about 7:30 p.m., high winds blew trees and power lines down as structures including a gas station's canopy collapsed.

City spokeswoman Kay Lunnon said there were no reports of injuries, but the emergency operations center was activated and city crews were out to assess damage.

"It's dark, and with the power out you can't tell the damage," she said. "The biggest challenge is getting electricity going."

Tornado warnings were also issued in Parker, Wise and Palo Pinto counties.

Only about 0.4 inches of rain fell Friday afternoon at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, with more expected overnight.

The good news locally is that another wet day further drenched drought fears.

"We're still in a long-term drought, but short-term-wise, yes, the drought conditions have been eased," said Jennifer Dunn, a meteorologist for the weather service. "You can tell everything is greening up, and the fire threat is becoming very low."

In keeping with a schizophrenic season of extremes, Friday's squalls and tornado scares should give way to a dry and temperate weekend.

Rain is expected to leave this morning or early afternoon as temperatures climb into the mid-70s. Sunday is expected to be partly cloudy, warming into the mid-80s.

[TexasStooge]

Storm cell brings hail, high winds (Updated)

Tornado warnings issued; 4,000 homes in Gainesville lose power

GAINESVILLE, Texas (WFAA ABC 8/AP) — Storms with winds up to 100 mph and hail the size of baseballs swept through North Texas overnight, damaging structures and pushing small planes into each other on a runway at a local airport.

The extent of the damage could be seen in aerial views of Cooke County by first light of day on Saturday: A barn with its roof peeled off like an apple; a truck stop with structures toppled by the winds; a mobile home that was obliterated; and a manufacturing facility that suffered obvious damage.

Channel 8 helicopter pilot Roger Smith said it was similar to a scene he witnessed in the same area about 10 years ago. "It's just like you'd take a big broom and sweep along the ground," he said.

"When you have winds from 80 to 100 mph it can do damage similar to that of a tornado," said Jesse Moore, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. "That can do some very, very big damage."

No injuries were reported.

Thousands of homes were without power at the height of the storm in Cooke County, but TXU Electric Delivery crews said they had restored electrical service to all but about 700 homes by Saturday morning.

Almost 10,000 homes in Dallas were also blacked out during the powerful storm.

In Denton, heavy rain and lightning caused officials to cancel the city's Arts & Jazz Festival Friday night. It was set to resume as scheduled on Saturday.

Emergency sirens sounded for several minutes in the town of Boyd in Wise County, but the city came through the storm largely unscathed.

However, the National Weather Service issued a flood warning for Boyd Saturday morning, saying the West Fork of the Trinity River was expected to rise above its banks on Saturday evening and crest about one foot above flood stage on Sunday afternoon.

Besides the storms that moved north of the Dallas-Fort Worth area on Friday night, there were also storms in near Waco and storms east of the Dallas-Fort Worth area in the Canton area, Moore said.

At the Gainesville Municipal Airport, hangers were damaged and planes that had been out on the runway were pushed into each other by the high winds, said Airport Director Matt Quick.

"They were basically just blown into each other," he said.

West Texas also got some high winds and large hail, but not the damage that North Texas received, Moore said.

Most of the damage to the airport that houses private planes was on the east side, said Quick.

Quick, who said that Saturday morning they were beginning to assess the damage, said that at least 15 planes were damaged at the airport where about 70 aircraft are based.

Gainesville Police Chief Carl Dunlap said that there was extensive damage throughout the city, including tress that were blown over, and damaged vehicles and buildings.

Dunlap, who said a couple of trailer homes were severely damaged in the winds, said there were no major injuries reported in the storm.

The good news locally is that another wet day further drenched drought fears.

"We're still in a long-term drought, but short-term-wise, yes, the drought conditions have been eased," said Jennifer Dunn, a meteorologist for the weather service. "You can tell everything is greening up, and the fire threat is becoming very low."

In keeping with a schizophrenic season of extremes, Friday's squalls and tornado scares should give way to a dry and temperate weekend.

Rain was expected to leave Saturday morning or early afternoon as temperatures climb into the mid-70s. Sunday was expected to be partly cloudy, warming into the mid-80s.

WFAA-TV reporters Steve Stoler and Roger Smith in Gainesville and Carol Cavazos in Dallas, the Dallas Morning News and the Associated Press contributed to this report.


WFAA ABC 8
High winds demolished this mobile home near Gainesville overnight.


WFAA ABC 8
High winds damaged this truck stop in Gainesville.

[southerngale]

There were many homes destroyed. And baseball-sized hail.

http://www.cnn.com/

Watch the video titled: Texas storm tosses planes around

[southerngale]

Storms Cause Damage Across Parts of Texas
Reported by Scott Lawrence
April 29, 2006 - 2:52PM


(Overturned FEMA trailer in Cheek)

Thunderstorms with powerful winds battered North and Southeast Texas late Friday and early Saturday, pushing small planes into each other at a Gainesville airport and damaging homes in San Jacinto and Liberty counties. Authorities said no serious injuries were reported due to the storms.

Wind damage was reported to homes and buildings in Cheek, Labelle, Silsbee, other portions of Hardin County and north of Mauriceville. A number of trees and parts of trees were blown down. A FEMA trailer was blown over in Cheek. The family living in the trailer wasn't hurt.
The family is repairing damage to its home caused by Hurricane Rita.

No injuries have been reported.

North Texas was hit by storms with winds up to 100 mph and hail the size of baseballs.

"When you have winds from 80 to 100 mph it can do damage similar to that of a tornado," said Jesse Moore, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. "That can do some very, very big damage."

While the damage was still being assessed Saturday afternoon in Gainesville, at least hundreds of homes and businesses were damaged in the city near the Oklahoma border and some areas were still without power, said city spokeswoman Kay Lunnon.

Many homes had damage from hail, including broken windows and roof damage, she said.

Gainesville Police Chief Carl Dunlap, who said that there was extensive damage throughout the city, said no major injuries were reported.

At the Gainesville Municipal Airport, han
ars were damaged and planes that had been out on the runway were pushed into each other by the high winds, said Airport Director Matt Quick.

"They were basically just blown into each other," he said.

Most of the damage to the airport that houses private planes was on the east side, said Quick.

Quick said that about 15 planes were damaged at the airport where about 70 aircraft are based.

In far east Waco, police said what appeared to be a tornado touched down before 1 a.m. Saturday, destroying one home and damage several other structures.

No injuries were reported but two horses were killed. Preliminary indications don't point to a tornado, according to the National Weather Service.

"I was in front of the house on the second story when all of a sudden the window shattered. I dove in the back corner of my room and all the walls collapsed," Shelby White, whose rural Waco home was destroyed by the storm, told the Waco Tribune-Herald.

The same storm system that hit North Texas, then moved early Saturday to the southeast part of the state, said Patrick Blood, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service Houston/Galveston office.

San Jacinto County Sheriff's Department dispatcher Kim Messinger said two homes in a subdivision in Coldspring were damaged around 6:30 a.m. No injuries were reported.

Messinger said officials believed the homes were hit by a tornado. But Blood said the weather service had not confirmed that.

The Liberty County Sheriff's Department had various reports of the strong winds knocking down trees and damaging homes. But no injuries were reported.

There was some street flooding in the Houston area but no serious damage was reported. About 4,000 customers in the Houston area lost power during the storm, said officials with CenterPoint Energy.

Blood said the storm system was expected to move out of the state by Saturday afternoon.

http://www.kfdm.com/engine.pl?station=k ... local.html