Communities from Texas to New York are in recovery mode following a devastating holiday weekend that unleashed tornadoes, storms, and heavy rains, leaving at least 24 dead and hundreds of thousands without power, reported by CBS News. The severe weather continued into Tuesday, particularly affecting the Dallas-Fort Worth area with early-morning storms that brought down trees, damaged properties with hail, and disrupted power lines.
As of Tuesday afternoon, over one million homes and businesses in Texas were still without electricity via Poweroutage.us. Dallas County’s chief executive, Clay Jenkins, indicated that the restoration of power could take several days, noting, “The power issue will be a multi-day situation.”
The impact of the storms was extensive across the region. In Cooke County, storms claimed seven lives over the weekend. Social media videos from Iowa depicted severe rains that reduced visibility significantly, and in Dallas’s Oak Cliff neighborhood, hailstones the size of golf balls damaged vehicles.
Further incidents included an American Airlines plane being pushed away from its gate by strong winds at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, and a hailstorm in Hurst that breached a Walmart store’s roof, forcing shoppers to seek makeshift shelter.
The adverse weather also led to lightning strikes causing significant damage and losses, including the total destruction of the Royse City Methodist Church in Rockwall, struck by lightning with no injuries reported. Nearby in Frisco, two homes were heavily damaged by lightning.
The National Weather Service has been busy surveying the damage across multiple states, finding destruction consistent with EF3-strength tornadoes, and considering upgrading one tornado in Paducah, Kentucky, to an EF4 rating due to its intensity.
Amidst these trials, there is a glimmer of hope as the extreme heat that has plagued much of Texas and the Gulf Coast shows signs of easing. However, the weather service warned that the heat index could still reach a scorching 115 degrees Fahrenheit on Tuesday.