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DFW Hit by Tornado Activity

DFW hit by tornado
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Overnight storms rapidly moved across north central Texas early Wednesday morning. This left DFW hit by tornado activity. Rotating funnel clouds swept west to east across Interstate 30 from Tarrant to Dallas County.

What Happened

Locals in west Fort Worth were awakened by tornado sirens and emergency alerts around 2 am Wednesday morning. A rapidly moving rotation was detected in a heavily populated area.

DFW hit by tornado
The first tornado warning is issued at 2 am on March 29, 2017.

A second storm system to the north was also developing with strong straight line winds. Both storms were moving east toward DFW Airport.  Local news stations were responsive with near-street level detail of where they believed the eye of the storm to be.  As our alert sounded (around the time of the below alert), the reported storm was about 1/2 mile from our house.

DFW hit by tornado
Local emergency scanner activity as DFW hit by tornado activity

At 2:15 am, tornado warnings were issued for northeast Tarrant County for the communities to the west of the airport. Several travelers at airport hotels posted on social media about efforts to move travelers to safer indoor corridors during the storm.  Still, many may have been caught off guard by the storm.

Local emergency scanner sites track tornado warnings as two separate rotations head toward DFW Airport.
Local emergency scanner sites track tornado warnings as two separate rotations head toward DFW Airport.  These warnings are both for the new warning to the north of the airport, not the one that was along I-30 near my house.

 

The Aftermath

This morning, flight operations at DFW appeared to be running normally.  I was on an outbound flight out of Terminal E.  I noted no irregular operations for Delta or other Terminal E carriers.  Traffic in Tarrant County, however, was difficult due to road issues caused by downed power lines and trees.  My Uber driver utilized back roads where some flooding was evident.

As of the writing of this post, no touchdowns have been confirmed in Tarrant County.  There are many social media reports of property damage from straight line winds. Over 100,000 homes lost power and some schools are closed according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

There were unconfirmed media reports early this morning that a tornado touched down in Rockwall, a community located along Interstate 30 east of Dallas.

DFW hit by tornado
The aftermath of the storm system that rolled through DFW it the early morning hours of March 29, 2017.

Where We Were

Growing up in tornado alley, we at Jetsetters Homestead have both have sat out our fair share of tornado warnings. We also have both seen firsthand the devastation and loss of lives in our hometown.  This storm very closely followed the exact path of that deadly 2000 storm.

We rode out last night’s storm in our laundry room.  We were jolted awake by a symphony of alerts – tornado sirens, iPhones, and other electronic devices.  When we heard the alert, we quickly threw on shoes and fleeces, and grabbed pillows and a duvet.  We took our laptops and headed to the most secure windowless room in the house.

There are many places I’d rather be when I’ve got an early morning flight and a 5 am wake up. We are also glad to be safe today.

Tired, but safe.

It’s 2:20 am and we are hanging out in the laundry room floor playing on our iPhones. #homestead #spring #safespaces

A post shared by Jennifer Moody (@jetsettershomestead) on


4 Comments

  1. I guess you live close to me – I’m in one of the boxed areas above. Went for a run around the neighborhood this morning and there were literally about 20 trees down in my neighborhood – some really large and old oak trees that were literally uprooted from the ground. Luckily didn’t see any damage to houses.

    1. We are in 76107. We heard the sirens west of us and dogs barking but no rain… thought it might be a car alarm. The symphony of warnings (iPhones, weather radio, neighborhood sirens) came a minute later. We lucked out on no damage this time but I’m still waiting on a new roof from last year and our neighborhood just finished two years of flood abatement.

      I’ve been seeing photos all day of all the tree and home damage near TCU and Colonial. Oh how I love storm season in Texas! I’m just glad our roofers had not started yet this week!

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