2015 in review: Rain, flooding, tornadoes pound North Texas

First in a series about the top local stories of 2015.

When it finally rained, it poured

It’s fitting that 2015 ended with storms.

Because weather — from spring flooding to the weekend’s outbreak of deadly tornadoes — was one of the top local stories of the year for Dallas-Fort Worth.

Most notably, 2015 goes into the record books as the wettest ever at Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, with 62.61 inches of rain. That’s nearly triple the 21.32 inches that fell in 2014, when most of the state was in a drought.

By year’s end, the state was virtually drought-free.

The heaviest rains, in May, sent lakes rising and rivers running. High water left many areas inundated for days. At some lakes, including Lake Grapevine, parks remained underwater for months.

It was also a year of late snows in March and a “flash drought” during the summer when DFW Airport went 41 days without a drop of rain between July 9 and Aug. 18.

Then came the weekend’s tornadoes, which killed 11 in Garland and Collin County. As of Monday, 73 tornadoes had touched down in North Texas, tying a 1994 record for the most tornadoes. That number could go up because survey teams are still assessing damage in Ellis and Hill counties.

“It was certainly a year of extremes,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Dan Huckaby. “We were wet, then dry, then wet again.”

Notable numbers from 2015

62.61 inches: Record rainfall at DFW Airport.

21.82 inches: Wettest meteorological fall, breaking the record of 18.11 inches set in 1981.

16.96 inches: Wettest May, breaking the record of 13.66 inches in 1982

9.86 inches: Wettest November, breaking the record of 7.94 inches in 1918.

4.78 inches: The highest 24-hour rain total at DFW Airport was Nov. 26-27.

73: Number of tornadoes across the 46-county region of North Texas covered by the National Weather Service Fort Worth office, a tie with 1994 for most tornadoes in a year.

2: Number of tornadoes that struck Tarrant County. An EF-0 touched down in north Fort Worth on Nov. 5 and an EF-0 in Keller on Nov. 17. Before 2015, four November tornadoes had been recorded in Tarrant County, the most recent on Nov. 20, 1994, in southwest Fort Worth.

Fort Worth’s first black police chief

Joel Fitzgerald of Allentown, Pa., was hired in September as Fort Worth police chief to succeed Jeff Halstead, who retired in November 2014.

Interim chief Rhonda Robertson retired when Fitzgerald was sworn in.

Fitzgerald, the city’s first black chief, arrived in October and kept the department’s executive staff intact. He kept three other candidates —Kenneth Dean, Abdul Pridgen and Daniel Garcia — as assistant chiefs.

City Manager David Cooke originally expected to hire a new chief by summer. It was worth the wait, he said, to select Fitzgerald. He praised Fitzgerald’s commitment to community policing.

Fitzgerald’s first administrative change reflects that: He is switching patrol officers back to beat assignments. Under Halstead, officers patrolled zones within divisions.

Fitzgerald said he wanted officers’ patrol areas narrowed because he thinks the beat structure should “build more ownership” among officers and the areas they cover. In December, officers were in the process of signing up for beats.

“Our citizens are very happy with what we do, but they’d like to see more neighborhood-based policing,” Fitzgerald said.

The neighborhood effort ties into what Fitzgerald views as “critical” over the next two years: The U.S. Justice Department-funded National Initiative for Building Community Trust and Justice. Fort Worth is one of six cities chosen for a pilot program, which will last two years and focus on ways to “improve relationships and increase trust between communities and the criminal justice system.”

Surveys for community feedback start in January; officers begin taking classes in February.

Fitzgerald views the initiative as a self-assessment for the department.

“It would be very narrow-minded of us to believe that everyone sees us the same,” Fitzgerald said. “We have a great ‘Back the Blue’ movement here. But our aim should be always to have that same intense level of support from every aspect of the city.” — Ryan Osborne

Blue Bell’s ice cream headache

For North Texans who love Blue Bell ice cream, 2015 was a year they would just as soon melt from their memories.

But like a sundae with a cherry on top, it ended happily.

The company pulled its products from shelves nationwide beginning in March after 10 illnesses, including three deaths, were linked to its ice cream. The Brenham-based company shut down production in May and laid off or furloughed most of about 3,900 employees.

Then Fort Worth financier Sid Bass, recognizing a business opportunity and a chance to save a Texas icon, stepped in with a reported $125 million investment. That assured that Blue Bell could modernize its production lines to prevent outbreaks.

By fall, the half-gallon cartons featuring a silhouetted, bonnet-bedecked girl guiding a cow were back on some shelves.

On Nov. 2 in the second phase of the rollout, five of the most popular flavors returned to 2,750 Dallas-Fort Worth supermarkets and convenience stores.

“As our production capacity has increased, we’ve added a bonus phase and will begin distributing ice cream to El Paso, Memphis, Tenn., and Little Rock, Ark., on Jan. 11,” Blue Bell spokeswoman Jenny Van Dorf said. “We hope to continue to introduce new flavors and expand our product lines.”

There’s more good news for baseball fans, who missed Blue Bell ice cream and “ice cream Sunday” weekend promotions at the Texas Rangers’ games in Arlington.

“Blue Bell will return to Globe Life Park in 2016,” said Rangers executive Rob Matwick. “We can confirm that.” — Gordon Dickson

Disabled woman’s father, sister imprisoned

After decades of investigating others, retired Tarrant County district attorney investigator Michael Garvin found himself in a new role in 2015 — defendant.

Garvin and his daughter, Tabby Martinjak, pleaded guilty in April to injury to the disabled in the death of Garvin’s youngest daughter, Marci Garvin.

Marci, who was severely disabled, died in March 2013. She had been hospitalized with bedsores, feces and bugs covering her body.

In September, state District Judge Robb Catalano sentenced Garvin and Martinjak to 20 years each in prison.

Garvin, 71, is now in the Middleton prison unit in Abilene and Martinjak, 47, in the Plane Unit in Dayton, as they await long-term prison assignment.

Both must serve 10 years before becoming parole eligible.

Michael Jarrett, who was special prosecutor in the case, said he thinks Marci’s case “illustrates a failure in nearly every aspect of care.”

“Marci was at the whim of her caregivers and when they failed her, she had no chance,” Jarrett said. “All life is precious. If you’re been entrusted with the care and life of a loved one, please know when it is too much to handle. Ask for help before it goes too far.”

The Star-Telegram ran a two-part series on Marci’s case, raising questions about her care and oversight under a Medicaid program known as Home and Community-based Services.

Neither the private service providers who worked with Marci’s family, nor MHMR Tarrant County intervened despite numerous red flags that Marci was in an unsafe environment.

Two service provider employees were found by an administrative law judge to have contributed to Marci’s death. One of them, Bill Eaton, has sued to try to prevent the state from adding his name to the state’s Employee Misconduct Registry. — Deanna Boyd

Police shootings and protests

Tarrant County joined the grim list of urban areas nationwide rocked by police shootings that ignited the “Black Lives Matter” movement.

In February, Grapevine police officer Robert Clark fatally shot unarmed Ruben Garcia Villalpando, 31, on the shoulder of a Texas 121 service road in Euless after a brief pursuit.

Garcia, an undocumented immigrant who was legally drunk, was moving toward Clark, who repeatedly told him to stop.

Protesters marched down Main Street in Grapevine and spoke before the City Council, saying Garcia’s death was unnecessary.

A Tarrant County grand jury declined to indict Clark.

On May 11, Kelvin Goldston, 30, was fatally shot during a south Fort Worth narcotics surveillance operation. Goldston, who had an extensive criminal history in Tarrant County, struck a plainclothes officer with his pickup. Another officer shot Goldston.

A Tarrant County grand jury declined to indict the officer, who has not been identified.

The highest profile shooting came Aug. 7 when Christian Taylor, 19, vandalized vehicles at an Arlington car dealership before being shot and killed by rookie Arlington police officer Brad Miller.

Taylor, who had taken a dangerous drug, was a sophomore football player at Angelo State University. His shooting went viral on social media and drew national media attention.

Miller, 49, was fired by Arlington Police Chief Will Johnson within the week, saying that the officer made tactical and judgment errors that led to “a catastrophic outcome.”

His case has been presented to the Tarrant County district attorney’s office but prosecutors have not presented it to a grand jury.

On Dec. 13 in Denton, University of North Texas police Cpl. Stephen Bean, 27, fatally shot Ryan McMillan, 21, of Fort Worth, who was carrying an ax. The investigation of the shooting continues. — Mitch Mitchell

This story was originally published December 28, 2015 at 4:33 PM with the headline "2015 in review: Rain, flooding, tornadoes pound North Texas."