North and NE Texas Mini-Tornado Outbreak

[Texas Snowman]

Walked out this afternoon and saw huge t-storm towers punching up in front of the dry line that has moved through North Texas.

A look at the radar and warnings confirmed big-time severe weather event going on with those storms.

Fort Worth NWS says that a number of homes have been damaged near Lone Oak, Texas; several vehicles were turned over on a highway; and the high school at Rice, Texas has been significantly damaged.

Warnings now include Sulphur Springs as spotters and radar show a developing tornado near Cumby moving east towards SS.

Quite a little late October event shaping up...

[Texas Snowman]

http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/Powerful ... 39678.html

Unbelievable tornado video from Rice as the high school gets hit.

EF2? EF3?

Some of the most dramatic tornado video - especially with the sound of the wind and the proximity of the debris - that I've ever seen.

Wowza...

[Texas Snowman]

According to WFAA Channel 8 in Dallas:

* Rice High School was hit (Dallas Morning News says Intermediate School was hit).
* Several buildings damaged
* Several vehicles hit.
* Reports of multiple injuries.

Also, various media indicates that Lone Oak, Texas in southern Hunt County was hit by a tornado. I've read that four residences were destroyed. Don't know about how many others were damaged.

Finally, WFAA reports that there were two other tornado touchdowns in the Mount Vernon to Mount Pleasant corridor in northeastern Texas. Don't know about damage from those.

[Texas Snowman]

From FW National Weather Service:

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/fwd/?n=ricetor

THE TORNADO IN NORTHERN NAVARRO COUNTY THAT PASSED NEAR THE TOWN
OF RICE HAS BEEN DETERMINED TO BE A STRONG EF-2 TORNADO WITH
ESTIMATED MAXIMUM WIND SPEEDS OF 135 MPH. THE TORNADO TRAVELED
ALONG A 7 MILE PATH AND WAS APPROXIMATELY 100 YARDS WIDE. FIVE
SINGLE FAMILY RESIDENCES WERE HEAVILY DAMAGED AND ESSENTIALLY
DESTROYED IN THE PATH OF THIS TORNADO. THREE SINGLE FAMILY
RESIDENCES ALSO SUSTAINED DAMAGE. THE RICE SCHOOL DISTRICT CAMPUS
SOUTH OF TOWN NEAR INTERSTATE 45 ALSO RECEIVED SIGNIFICANT DAMAGE.

THE DAMAGE SURVEY TEAM WILL VISIT THE LONE OAK AREA THIS AFTERNOON
AND UPDATES WILL BE PROVIDED AS THEY BECOME AVAILABLE.

[somethingfunny]