Communities across Texas and other parts of the United States are picking up the pieces after a devastating Memorial Day weekend brought severe weather, including tornadoes, storms, and heavy rain that left at least 24 people dead and hundreds of thousands without power.
The Dallas-Fort Worth area was hit particularly hard on Tuesday with early-morning storms that knocked out power, downed trees, created damaging hail and made a mess of the region. More than 1 million Texas homes and businesses remained without power Tuesday afternoon, according to Poweroutage.us.
Dallas County judge Clay Jenkins warned that the power issue would be a 'multiday' situation.
Memorial Day brought severe, driving rains with very little visibility to Iowa. Hailstones the size of golf balls clattered off vehicles in Oak Cliff, a neighborhood in Dallas. In Lewisville, about 28 miles north of Dallas, strong winds and heavy rain were reported.
An American Airlines plane was pushed away from a gate at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport due to the storms. A hailstorm Monday breached the roof of a Walmart store in Hurst, prompting shoppers to use nearby products for shelter. In Rockwall, east of Dallas, Royse City Methodist Church sustained heavy damage from lightning.
Two neighboring homes in Frisco were struck by lightning Tuesday, resulting in heavy and moderate damage respectively. There were no reported casualties.
The National Weather Service confirmed that EF1 tornadoes with wind speeds of up to 90 mph touched down in Louisville, Kentucky on Sunday. The office is consulting with experts to determine if the tornado should be classified as an EF4, which would indicate winds of 166-200 mph.
The extreme heat that has pushed much of Texas and the Gulf Coast to three-figure temperatures in recent days is finally softening, but the index could still reach 115 degrees Fahrenheit on Tuesday. Patients at hospitals were operating on generator power as authorities prioritized restoring service there.
The severe weather threat comes as more than 2.6 million people were under a heat advisory across South Texas, which has been gripped by oppressively hot weather for days.
