Overnight and early morning thunderstorms painted the skies with lightning bolts and dropped much-needed rain on North Texas.
Little damage was reported, but lightning struck a two-story house in Trophy Club, causing a fire.Fire Chief Danny Thomas said that no one was injured but that the 3,100-square-foot home of a family of four burned quickly from the attic to the second floor.The first firefighters to arrive found the roof engulfed in flames, Thomas said."With the wind and stuff, it was a pretty tough fight," he said. "We got on scene about 10:55 and tapped it out at 1:14 a.m."About 20 firefighters fought the blaze. The house, valued at $317,000, "probably was a total loss," he said.Lightning also struck houses in Argyle and Bartonville in Denton County, but they were not destroyed, officials said.Oncor reported that power went out for about 15,000 customers in southeast Tarrant County and about 5,000 in Dallas County.Among those affected were employees and outpatients at the JPS Health Network professional office complex, which lost power about 8 a.m. Thursday in the buildings at 1359 and 1400 S. Main St. in Fort Worth. The buildings contain five outpatient clinics, doctors' offices and business offices, JPS spokeswoman Diana Carroll said.John Peter Smith Hospital was unaffected.Only a couple of dozen outpatients were in the buildings when the power went out.About 400 employees were sent home or to other JPS locations. But all of them had been recalled by 10:30 a.m. and the rest of the day's appointments were unaffected. All disrupted appointments have been rescheduled, Carroll said."We estimate that the power outage affected fewer than 150 patient appointments," she said.Meteorologist Amber Elliott said the National Weather Service got reports of trees down near Waxahachie in Ellis County."We got a report from downtown Italy that some power poles had been knocked down by wind about 5 a.m., and one fell on a car," she said.Italy is about 47 miles south of Dallas on Interstate 35E.Fate and Royse City, just east of Rockwall, reported quarter- to half-dollar-size hail, Elliott said."Other than that, it's been gusty winds, pea- to penny-size hail and moderate rainfall across several locations," she said.Dallas/Fort Worth Airport reported 0.22 inch of rain between midnight and 8 a.m. Thursday and 0.49 inch over the previous 24 hours.Cooler, drier air that swept in with a cold front Thursday should clear out precipitation and leave today's temperatures in the lower 80s, Elliott said.Terry Evans, 817-390-7620Twitter: @fwstevans