CBS11TV.com Extra: Severe Weather Raw Video
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Apr 10, 2008 10:12 pm US/Central
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5 Tornadoes, Storms Leave Trail Of Damage In DFW
HURST (AP) ―
Hundreds of Texans spent Thursday cleaning up from overnight storms that snapped utility poles, peeled roofs from buildings and sent trees crashing into homes in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
The National Weather Service confirms five tornadoes touched down: two in Stephens County, one in Palo Pinto, one in Johnson County and in DeSoto in Dallas County.
At least 100 homes and buildings were damaged across the state, officials said. As of Thursday night, 85,000 people were without power.
Three people suffered minor injuries in the rural town of Breckenridge east of Abilene, officials said, while a gas field worker south of Fort Worth lost an arm up to the elbow.
"He got his arm cut off above the elbow. They found from his hand down, but didn't find anything in the middle," said storm victim Renae Frun.
The unidentified gas worker was inside a trailer at a drilling site near Alvarado when a possible tornado struck, said Elaine Thomas, a spokeswoman for EOG Resources. He remained hospitalized in Dallas on Thursday with injuries that were not life-threatening.
No deaths were reported, American Red Cross spokeswoman Anita Foster said.
"If there's any good news in a storm as severe as last night's, that is the good news," Foster said.
Residents and workers in the area off High Meadows Drive say there was no warning - no sirens - just a sudden burst of wind.
"The weather service came by and actually looked at our shop and the damage," said storm victim Ben Frun. "They were saying it didn't look like it could be straight line winds the way the twisted metal was on the shelves."
Authorities shut down two city blocks in Downtown Fort Worth as crews repaired glass from one of the city's skyscrapers. The strong winds shattered three window glass panels at the D. R. Horton Tower on Commerce Street.
Up to 50 homes were damaged in Allen. As many as 20 homes were damaged in DeSoto and another 20 in Breckenridge, officials said.
Straight-line winds carved out a destructive path running southwest to northeast across the city of Hurst. Downed trees littered residential neighborhoods, blocking streets, snapping utility poles and snagging power lines. Some large tree trucks had snapped just a foot or two above ground level.
Evelyn Wooten, 69, said she spent early Thursday morning sitting alone in a front-hall closet wearing a motorcycle helmet and waiting out the storm in the sturdiest room in her house.
"I wasn't going to be hit in the head by a two-by-four," Wooten said, supervising the cleanup of her Hurst home, which was punctured by a falling tree. "I just made me a cozy little den in there."
Bobby Russell, a 45-year-old maintenance man, said he was huddled with his wife and two teenage children in their Hurst duplex when a falling tree punched a hole in the roof and collapsed a wall of his daughter's bedroom.
"We got the family together in the hallway, and then we heard a big boom," Russell said.
The Hurst Farmers Market lost about half its roof, which landed in the parking lot next to the building. Exposed wiring and insulation hung above a floor covered with about a half-inch of water, while soggy ceiling tiles leaked onto piles of apples, oranges, bananas and limes.
Farmers market owner Steve Doty, who turned 42 Thursday, said his business was a total loss.
"Well, that's one way to start out your birthday," he said. "At least nobody died."
Elsewhere in town, the city's sports complex was destroyed when winds knocked down light poles, backstops and outfield fences. At least eight homes were damaged.
One hangar at Addison Airport lost part of its roof. At Collin County Regional Airport in McKinney, there was minor damage to six or seven aircraft, officials said.
The North Church in Carrollton lost a large section of its roof, which caused gallons of water to gush into a section of its 2,500-seat sanctuary, Pastor Lawrence Kennedy said.
South of Dallas in Waxahachie, the roof blew off an extended-stay hotel where 24 people were staying, Foster said.
In DeSoto a confirmed EF-1 tornado, with winds between 86 and 110 mph, damaged a senior apartment complex and a hotel where about 50 people were staying.
"The DeSoto area was hit pretty hard," Foster said. "We saw roofs that had caved in and cars that were picked up and moved."
Oncor Electric spokeswoman Carol Peters said more than 115,000 customers in the Dallas-Fort Worth area were without power Thursday afternoon and 125,000 system-wide. At one point, Oncor had about 250,000 customers without power in North Texas. Some could remain without power until Saturday.
Thursday afternoon the National Weather Service confirmed that two tornadoes touched down near Breckenridge. One EF-0 south of town and one EF-1 southwest of town. Officials also confirmed a EF-1 tornado in Palo Pinto County near Oran.
Forecasters say the worst of the bad weather has past.
(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)