Light rain continued falling across Tarrant County on Thursday morning after a powerful thunderstorm blew into the Dallas-Fort Worth area causing damage on Wednesday.
The rainfall is expected to continue on and off today with heavy rain possibly returning in the afternoon, the National Weather Service forecast for North Texas states.Heavy rain accompanied by gusty winds moved through Tarrant County on Wednesday, causing the roof of an Fort Worth apartment complex and a boat dock at Eagle Mountain Lake to collapse and leaving thousands of people in the dark.The storm blew through shortly before 3 p.m., dropping temperatures almost 20 degrees within 10 minutes -- from 94 at 2:43 p.m. to 75 by 2:53 p.m.Lightning and wind gusts up to 60 mph were reported, according to meteorologist Amber Elliott of the weather service office in Fort Worth.And the rain continued to fall throughout the evening and into this morning. As of 7 a.m. Thursday, rain at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport totaled over 1.6 inches."We'll have light rain persisting through the morning, and kind of clearing a little bit this morning, and scattered thunderstorms in the afternoon. This evening, it will still be scattered but we're looking for a potential for more widespread rain overnight," said meteorologist Nick Hampshire of weather service office in Fort Worth.Temperatures will top out at about 80 "if we're able to get some breaks in the clouds for the sun to come out," Hampshire said.Some 26,000 Oncor customers were without power systemwide at one point Wednesday afternoon. That number was down to about 9,200 shortly before 11 a.m. Thursday, the electric delivery company reported on its website. There were about 850 customers without power in Tarrant County at 7:30 a.m., said Oncor spokeswoman Cristi Ramon. Most of the system's outages were concentrated in Dallas County and the eastern portion of the Metroplex, she said."Our crews are working as quickly and as safely as possible to restore power to everyone affected. Outages tend to follow the path of the storm, as does restoration," Ramon said. "The storms continued throughout the night and they're still working to assess any damage to our equipment."DFW Airport had experienced 139 flight cancellations since the storms began and had over 3,000 travelers stranded overnight, the airport reported in a release Thursday morning.Numerous flights into DFW were diverted to other nearby airports and then arrived at DFW at once between storm systems.The airport implemented a concessions operations plan in all five terminals. Restaurants were to stay open to accommodate passengers whose flights are affected by the storms, a release stated.DFW customer service personnel distributed cots, blankets, pillows and toiletry kits to passengers stuck at the airport.Elliott said the weather service had received reports of damage to a 100-foot radio tower near Eagle Mountain Lake and large tree limbs on the ground in southwest Fort Worth.Lakeview Marina at Eagle Mountain Lake reported damage to the roofs of several boat slips.At the Wayside Plaza apartments in the 700 block of Ninth Avenue in Fort Worth, part of the roof collapsed shortly before 5 p.m., according to the Fire Department.Tenants were evacuated as inspectors determined whether the two-story building was safe for occupancy.Initially, emergency crews were told people may have been trapped inside the building. However, everyone escaped safely."It knocked the roof off," tenant Nancy Stewart said. "It sounded like a freight train."The complex was relocating tenants Wednesday night to a hotel because of damage, and the electricity was being turned off.Jessamy Brown, 817-390-7326Twitter: @jessamybrown