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Thousands lose power after strong winds, heavy rains hit North Texas

Downed trees, limbs and branches were common across Dallas after Sunday's storms. Oncor’s outage map showed more than 120,000 power outages across the Metroplex
Bill Zeeble
/
KERA
Downed trees, limbs and branches were common across Dallas after Sunday's storms. Oncor’s outage map showed more than 120,000 power outages across the Metroplex.

A series of thunderstorms rolled into North Texas Sunday bringing strong winds and flooding.

Minutes following the afternoon high winds, rain and hail, Oncor’s outage map showed more than 120,000 power outages across the Metroplex, mostly in the Dallas area.

As the sun began to fall, Oncor’s Juan Reyes reported 80,000 homes still without power.

“We had crews pre-positioned ahead of time,” said Reyes, “to make sure that they could begin repairs as quickly and as safely as possible. Our crews are actively working to assess damage, clear vegetation, and get the lights on for everyone as quickly and safely as possible.”

He did not know when repairs would be finished.

Matt Bishop, meteorologist with National Weather Service in Fort Worth, said the line of thunderstorms rolled in from Oklahoma City Sunday morning and worked its way south.

It’s still going. He says when the storms hit the Metroplex by mid-afternoon, “we had a lot of instability and energy in the atmosphere to work with and that allowed some of those storms to become severe.”

Bishop said the region saw severe winds gust up to 65 mph and hail.

“We did have a few instances of hail anywhere from quarter to half dollar size.”

For Monday, he said there’s a small chance of an isolated storm or two in the Metroplex, but most of what the region saw Sunday has moved much farther south.

More than 300 flights were delayed at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, CBS News reported.

The Dallas Zoo announced it will close Monday to clean up damage caused by the storm. It also announced plans to cancel Member Morning on Monday.

So far there have been no reports of injuries.

Bill Zeeble has been a full-time reporter at KERA since 1992, covering everything from medicine to the Mavericks and education to environmental issues.