The most active spring for severe weather in the United States in 13 years continued Tuesday, with wind gusts of more than 70 mph and thunderstorms prompting new tornado warnings in Texas after twisters ripped through the Great Plains and Midwest over Memorial Day weekend, killing 22 people and leaving miles of devastation.
Dangerous weather returned to central Texas early Tuesday, prompting the National Weather Service to issue a shelter-in-place warning to Fort Worth residents. Just before 6 a.m. CT, the area saw wind gusts of 77 mph.
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By 6:30 a.m., the National Weather Service had issued a tornado warning for people southeast of Dallas, including Garland, Mesquite, and Richardson.
Severe weather on Tuesday featured big hail and wind gusts of more than 80 mph in Dallas County, Texas, where forecasters indicated tornadoes could form throughout the day and into Tuesday night.
In a statement, American Airlines said that wind hit several of its commercial jets at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. Wind gusts pushed an American Airlines 737-800 away from a gate on Tuesday morning, as captured by the airport’s security cameras.
Severe weather, including straight-line wind gusts of up to 80 mph, disrupted several unoccupied aircraft at our Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) hub. There were no injuries.” Our maintenance team is currently conducting thorough inspections and will make any necessary repairs,” American Airlines said in its statement.
Severe storms also hit Waco, Austin, San Antonio, Abilene, and Midland. We anticipate heavy rain to persist for the next 24 hours, causing flash floods in many areas of central and northern Texas, with a forecast of 3 to 5 inches of rain from Dallas to San Antonio.
The massive power disruptions exacerbated the situation. Oncor, Texas’ largest electricity supplier, said hundreds of thousands of customers were without power Tuesday morning.
Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins warned during a news conference on Tuesday that some homeowners might have to wait a long time for the restoration of their electricity.
“This, unfortunately, will be a multi-day power outage situation,” said Jenkins, who declared a disaster in Dallas County.
Straight-line winds are the cause of this broken line problem, according to Jenkins.
According to Jenkins, Oncor is prioritizing the restoration of power to important infrastructure, including hospitals and nursing homes, which were running on emergency generators on Tuesday.
According to Grant Cruise, an Oncor spokesperson, a storm that hit the energy company’s service zone around 5 a.m. on Tuesday produced baseball-sized hail, gusts exceeding 80 mph, and “a significant amount of cloud-to-ground lightning.”
According to Cruise, more than 600,000 Oncor customers were without power by 11:30 a.m. ET.
Scott Forester, chief of Dallas County Emergency Management, advised people to avoid the numerous downed powerlines in the region.
“We want to stay protected. We want to remain clear of downed electrical wires.” Assume every downed line is live,” Forester advised.
Over the last four days, at least 1,336 severe storms have wreaked havoc across the country, from Texas to the Midwest and up to the Northeast. This spring has seen the most severe storms since 2011.
The National Weather Service said it received 76 tornado reports over the holiday weekend in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, and Kansas.
Officials say at least 22 individuals died in extreme weather situations over the weekend.
Over the weekend, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott declared 106 counties disaster areas, with more than 200 homes or structures destroyed and another 120 damaged.
One of the most destructive tornadoes slammed down Saturday in Valley View, Texas, roughly 60 miles northwest of Dallas, killing seven people, including two children from the same family, according to officials. Officials reported the North Texas tornadoes caused significant damage to the FRF Estates subdivision and the Gateway AP Travel Center, both near Valley View.
The Valley View tornado, classified by the National Weather Service as an EF-2 on the Enhanced Fujita tornado rating scale with winds of up to 135 mph, was Texas’ deadliest tornado since a twister killed ten people near Dallas in December 2015.
Members of the Bolden family told ABC News that they were driving through Valley View when a tornado warning forced them to pull over and take cover at the Gateway AP Travel Center.
“We got out, went into the store, and five minutes later, the power went out,” Anjelic Bolden told ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Tuesday. “When the electricity went out, I ran to the bathroom and hid beneath the sink. I feared for my life. I’d never had that experience before.”
Kenneth Bolden Sr. stated that he and his son sought refuge in the travel center’s men’s room as the roof collapsed.
“My ears were popping. “You couldn’t even focus on anything because everything was moving, people were screaming, babies were crying, and all you wanted to do was wish it would stop,” Bolden Sr. told GMA.
The severe weather also caused significant delays for holiday passengers at airports in Dallas, Atlanta, and New York City.
