Residents assessing damage after Tarrant County storms

By Bill Hanna

billhanna@star-telegram.com

EAGLE MOUNTAIN LAKE -- After spending Sunday aboard her boat, Too Much Fun, Stacey Sibley didn't give a second thought to the dark clouds approaching from the north.

She raced home ahead of the storm to get her dog from her home on Bonds Ranch Road and bring her back to the Lake Country Marina.

"I just thought we were going to get some rain," Sibley said. "I had no idea what was coming."

Instead, the storm packed tropical storm-force winds, extending from Eagle Mountain Lake across north Fort Worth, damaging hangars and aircraft at Meacham Airport and leaving thousands of households without power.

By 7:30 p.m. Monday, about 5,400 customers in north Fort Worth were still waiting for their electricity to be restored, down from 55,000 Sunday night, Oncor spokeswoman Arielle Kaplan said. No timeline was given for restoring power.

At 3 p.m. Monday, the American Red Cross opened a cooling center at the Christian Center of Fort Worth, 4301 N.E. 28th St. in Haltom City. It will be open until power is restored.

For all the wind and thunder, Dallas/Fort Worth Airport recorded only a trace of rain.

Whiteout conditions

At Eagle Mountain Lake Sunday night, Sibley found herself in the midst of a storm strong enough to cause two boat docks to break free and send refrigerators, coolers and other debris floating across the lake.

"It was a total whiteout like in a blizzard," Sibley said. "You couldn't see anything."

Sibley's boat dock withstood the storm; Randall Johnson wasn't as fortunate.

He was on board his 33-foot cabin cruiser that he had just purchased Friday and moved into Lake Country Marina.

From his boat, he saw the winds starting to twist the dock's metal roof and said to himself, "Wow, the dock's breaking up," before taking shelter inside his boat, not realizing until later that the dock had broken free and drifted out into the lake.

Lake Country Marina officials said about 40 boats were tied up in the docks when the storm hit. Most suffered minor damage, but some were still being towed from the damaged dock and assessed for more serious damage.

Airport hit

At Meacham, wind gusts clocked at 76 mph damaged 12 aircraft, about three seriously. A Cessna was picked up and carried over a security fence. Damage could exceed $1 million, said Bill Welstead, the city's director of aviation.

Damage was still being assessed Monday, and it was still being determined whether the city or tenants would be responsible for repair costs, he said.

Ten hangars were damaged, two of them seriously. One was moved about 100 feet across the airport, and another had one wall ripped open. Welstead said most of the damage was on the east side of the airport. The hangars that sustained the most damage faced north, he said.

Assessing damage

In the Fort Worth Stockyards, most of the damage had been cleaned up by late Monday morning. One awning in front of Maverick Fine Western Wear at the corner of North Main Street and Exchange Avenue had been blown down.

Because of power outages, Tarrant County College Northwest Campus and the Tarrant Regional Water District administration offices on Northside Drive were closed.

More storms are possible tonight, Thursday night and Friday.

"It could be a pretty eventful week," said Dan Huckaby, a National Weather Service meteorologist.

Wildfire threat

The wildfire threat remains high. Firefighters are battling two wildfires in Palo Pinto County.

"Fortunately, they won't see very strong winds today, but that could change on Wednesday when it could be pretty breezy," Huckaby said. 'We could see wildfires, storms and strong winds all during this week."

The storms caused flight delays at DFW Airport on Sunday night, but most flights were back on schedule this morning.

Staff writers David Kent and Domingo Ramirez Jr. contributed to this report.

Bill Hanna, 817-390-7698

Twitter: @fwhanna

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