A line of strong thunderstorms brought heavy rain and wind to the Fort Worth area Friday night, but no confirmed tornadoes, according to the National Weather Service Fort Worth.
A NWS survey team traveled to south Fort Worth on Saturday to look over the damage. Reports on social media indicated a tornado had touched down in the area, but the NWS team found sporadic damage consistent with straight-lines winds, officials said in a statement Saturday afternoon.
NWS spokesperson Jennifer Dunn told the Star-Telegram on Saturday morning that they had received very few reports of actual damage, and the public could help by sending in photos, video footage or damage reports to sr-fwd.webmaster@noaa.gov. Dunn said email is best, but that information can also be submitted to the NWS via X or Facebook.
A rumor surfaced on social media that the National Weather Service in Norman, Oklahoma, tried to contact the Fort Worth office about issuing a radar-indicated tornado warning, but NWS officials say that didn’t happen.
“We never contact another office to say to issue a warning,” said Norman’s Meteorologist-in-Charge Mark Fox.
Fox said Norman is Fort Worth’s backup office, and when severe weather is expected they routinely reach out to see if Fort Worth needs extra help. The Fort Worth office does the same for them.
According to Dunn, a tornado warning was issued for Weatherford and for part of Palo Pinto County after radar indicated a tornado, but she hasn’t heard of any damage in those areas.
A severe thunderstorm warning was issued in Tarrant County about 8 p.m.
This map contains continuously updated storm reports and damage from the National Weather Service for the past 48 hours. Reports include tornado, wind storm and hail storm reports. The map also includes tornado reports for the past week and recent rainfall accumulations. Sources: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Esri.
Steve Wilson swilson@star-telegram.com
Flooding was a major concern ahead of Friday’s storms, but so far it seems there was just some localized flooding in known trouble spots and no widespread issues, Dunn said. The line of storms moved faster than anticipated, and that reduced the flooding risk.
There were some emergency calls related to vehicles stuck in high water Friday night, but a Fort Worth Police Department spokesperson said they didn’t receive any reports of major accidents or injuries related to the storm.
Craig Trojacek, a spokesperson for the Fort Worth Fire Department, said the department received around 800 calls for service starting at midnight Friday through Saturday. That’s over 200 more calls than normal, he said.
Firefighters conducted 12 high water rescues and responded to 57 fires. At least three of the fires are believed to be lightning related based on what the 911 callers told dispatch, Trojacek said. More than 130 calls were about downed power lines, and a tree fell on a house in the 3800 block of 8th Avenue in the Rosemont neighborhood.
There’s a potential for more thunderstorms with a risk for hail Saturday afternoon in Central Texas. The Fort Worth area could see some rain from those storms, according to Dunn, but the severe threat is to the south of DFW.
Power Outages
Over 18,000 Tarrant County residents were without power Saturday morning due to the storms, according to the Oncor website. Nearly 3,000 people were without power in Dallas County. Oncor officials said they are working to “restore power as quickly and safely as possible.”
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