Tornado Leaves Trail of Damage in Dallas and Cuts Power to Thousands
The funnel cloud destroyed buildings in the northern part of the city and left a Home Depot in tatters.
ByNeil Vigdor
A tornado barreled through the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex on Sunday night, obliterating concrete buildings, a big rig and utility poles in a wide path of destruction and leaving tens of thousands of people without power.
The National Weather Service said at 10:27 p.m. local time that there was visual confirmation of the tornado north of Interstate 635 and east of U.S. 75 in the northern part of the city.
“Everyone in northeast Dallas needs to take shelter now,” the Fort Worth office of the National Weather Service said on Twitter.
Videos of the funnel cloud weaving ominously through the densely populated area flooded Twitter, as well as photos of extensive damage, including footage of a Home Depot in tatters.
According to the city of Dallas, there were no fatalities or serious injuries from the tornado, which was accompanied by golf-ball sized hail and lightning — some strikes could be seen flickering through the giant windows of AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, during Sunday night’s football game between the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles.
The Dallas Police Department sent officers door-to-door in a neighborhood northwest of Love Field to check on the status of residents, amid unconfirmed reports on social media that some people in the city had been trapped in damaged buildings.
The region remained under heightened alert for more destructive weather, with the N.W.S. warning that additional tornadoes were possible.
The utility company, Oncor, reported that close to 85,000 customers were without power as of 11:30 p.m.
The city of Dallas activated its Emergency Operations Center late Sunday to assess damage from the tornado. Emergency responders said they sounded tornado sirens in northeast and northwest Dallas ahead of the storm.
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