Already-battered Tarrant under tornado watch
Tornado sightings were reported Monday afternoon in counties south and north of Fort Worth as more storms moved into North Texas.
There were several reported tornado sightings in eastern Erath County and southwestern Hood County Monday afternoon but there were no details on any reports of damage, said Jesse Moore of the National Weather Service.
Tarrant County, which was on a tornado watch until 6 p.m., missed the bulk of the heavy rain and hail that hit surrounding areas.
The tornado watch for Tarrant County was removed by 6 p.m. Monday, according to a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.
But Tuesday is expected to be a repeat of Monday, with the threat of thunderstorms that could contain high winds, hard rains and hail, although most of the activity is expected east of the Metroplex, Daniel Huckaby, a forecaster with the weather service said.
Huckaby said a tornado that touched down about 2 p.m. between Stephenville and Glen Rose in Erath County damaged some houses and barns. But no one was reported injured during the storms, he said. That same storm brought down some trees in Ellis County, Huckaby said. A downed power line caused an interruption of electrical services to a few homes in the area, said Capt. T.G. Dixon, Erath County sheriff’s office.
The same tornado touched down in a vacant pasture without causing any damage, Dixon said.
Sunday's storms, which extended into early Monday, came on the heels of nasty weather late Saturday, which left many North Texans cleaning up debris on Easter Sunday.
Gino Zangara of Fort Worth woke up Sunday morning to find that a 60-foot oak tree had crashed into his garage.
"I never heard the crash," Zangara said. "One part of the tree is on my fence and the other is on my garage. I can't get one of my cars out."
Sunday night's storms brought another round of severe weather to the area, Moore said.
"We kept wanting them to die, but they just wouldn't die," he said.
DFW Airport and Meacham Airport received a little less than half an inch of rain overnight Sunday night, Alliance Airport got a little more than half an inch, Moore said.
There were reports of golfball-sized hail between 2 and 5 a.m. Monday at DFW Airport, with one inch hail in North Richland Hills and Watauga, Moore said.
National Weather Service officials hadn't received many reports of damage but expected to receive more calls as homeowners woke up, Moore said.
About 3,500 Oncor customers were reporting power outages across Dallas-Fort Worth as of 3:30 p.m. Monday afternoon, Oncor spokeswoman Cristi Ramon said. The outages were scattered across the DFW area, although the most number of reports came from Tarrant County, Ramon said.
Crews worked overnight Sunday after lightning, heavy rain and winds knocked down poles and power lines, Ramon said.
Students returning from a three-day weekend discovered that the electricity was still on vacation at Mansfield High School. Power was restored later Monday morning and classes were scheduled to resume at 10 a.m.
Tarrant County's stormy encounters may not be over.
Baseball-sized hail, 70 to 80 mph winds and even a few tornadoes are a possibility Monday as a dry line along the Interstate 35 corridor just west of Fort Worth is expected to push moist air to the east by midafternoon, Moore said.
The spring thunderstorms gave firefighters at Possum Kingdom Lake a little help in containing one of the largest wildfires in the state.
Firefighters near Possum Kingdom Lake are not expected to see any rain Monday but fortunately parts of Palo Pinto County received a little less than an inch of rain in the storms yesterday, Moore said.
A wind shift is expected in the area as the dry lines comes through, shifting direction from south to southwest before finally shifting to the northwest, Moore said. The shift might prove to be problematic for firefighters as it might help the fires to spread.
About an inch of rain fell on the southern half of the lake Saturday, and more than an inch had fallen on the northern half by early Sunday evening.
"It's a mixed blessing," said Dave Boyd of the federal firefighting team at the lake. "The rain is good, but storms have lightning strikes that could hit something and smolder for days before a fire starts up."
Boyd said Sunday that the wildfires around the lake had not grown in the past few days but were not dead.
Calmer winds and higher humidity have helped firefighters the past four days with wildfires that have destroyed more than 160 homes and two churches around the lake. Boyd said authorities estimated that the wildfires at the lake were almost 70 percent contained Sunday night.
No large fires were reported Sunday, and 209 of the 254 Texas counties are reporting burn bans, the Texas Forest Service reported in a news release.
Officials issued a fire weather watch from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. today for the western counties of North Texas, including the Possum Kingdom Lake area, as humidity levels drop and gusty winds return.
Staff writer Mitch Mitchell contributed to this report.
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