Storm leaves tens of thousands without power in Metroplex, rains on ACM party

This time, it got even stormier.

A day after bad weather disrupted Friday night plans, a fast-moving system packed with high wind, lightning and some hail swept west to east across North Texas, knocking down power lines, tearing up trees and raining on the Academy of Country Music Awards’ Party for a Cause at Globe Life Park in Arlington.

An estimated 90,000 people were without power as the storm blew through, according to Oncor, the electric-delivery company. Most of the outages were on the western side of the DFW Metroplex, Oncor spokesman Kris Spears said. As of 3 p.m. Sunday, 19,997 customers were still without power, many of them in Tarrant County (9,521), according to Oncor.

“The main cause was the storm that passed through,” Spears said.

The National Weather Service’s Fort Worth office said it received widespread reports of wind speeds recorded at 60-65 mph, as well as a 66-mph gust at Naval Air Station Fort Worth and one around 55 mph at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport.

Fort Worth firefighters responded to at least 13 calls of downed power lines and trees on fire because of downed lines.

A ground stop was in effect at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport as the storm blew through, causing hundreds of arrival and departure delays and some cancellations, but by 9:30 the airport was back at full service.

Fans at Globe Life Park in Arlington for the American Country Music Awards Party for a Cause were evacuated from their seats and asked to remain in covered areas. Although the wind had long passed, lightning continued to delay the event at 10 p.m.

In Northeast Tarrant County, Southlake ended its Country in the Square event early because of the weather, and Keller had to close up its Taste Keller event.

Despite the high winds, National Weather Service meteorologist Jaime Gudmestad said there were no tornadoes in Tarrant County.

Several WFAA/Channel 8 viewers reported hail from pea to nickel size in Collin County as the storm moved to the eastern part of the Metroplex. Reports of golf-ball-size hail came from Palo Pinto County, west of Mineral Wells, late Saturday afternoon.

A brief tornado was confirmed near Oak Trail Shores north of Granbury. Storm spotters reported some tree damage. The tornado warning in Hood and Parker counties was canceled shortly after the tornado touched down.

This story was originally published April 18, 2015 at 9:53 PM with the headline "Storm leaves tens of thousands without power in Metroplex, rains on ACM party."