Storms rage through Dallas/Ft.Worth
Associated Press
Issue date: 6/11/09 Section: News
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No deaths or injuries were reported from the storms, which began whipping the Dallas-Fort Worth area with winds up to 70 mph Wednesday night. Thunderstorms continued moving through North Texas on Thursday and started to clear by mid-afternoon after dumping more than 8 inches of rain on portions of Dallas.
A second wave of severe weather took aim on Central Texas late Thursday, downing trees and power lines in Burnet County and causing problems with phone service in Round Rock. Gene Smith, a spokesman for the Williamson County emergency communications, said 911 calls were rerouted to the county in the interim.
Trees were down and some roofs have blown off of structures in Goldthwaite from a severe thunderstorm late Thursday afternoon, according to a dispatcher at the Mills County Sheriff's Office. Back in the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan area, Megan Wright, a spokeswoman for Oncor Electric Delivery, said power had been restored Thursday night to 200,000 customers. She said more than 180,000 homes and businesses were without electricity.
About 2,600 repair crew members from Oncor, contractors and neighboring electric utilities were working to restore service when safe, but lightning and heavy rain were interrupting those efforts earlier on Thursday, Oncor spokeswoman Jeamy Molina said.
Dallas workers were trying to repair a pump that moves groundwater from a west Dallas neighborhood into the Trinity River. The pump was struck by lightning Thursday morning. Danielle McClelland, a city spokeswoman, said another pump was "doing the work of the two. So the water is being pumped back into the Trinity, although it is doing it much slowly."
"We just hope this rain holds off so we can get this one pump fixed. We're in a wait and see mode," McClelland said.
She said west Dallas, which has experienced flooding in the past, was also seeing flooding on Thursday due to the heavy rains. The city contacted 5,200 households via its reverse 911 system urging residents to evacuate in case of flooding, McClelland said. Firefighters went door to door to deliver similar warnings.
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