7 confirmed dead in storms ripping North Texas
Published 12:18 am Sunday, December 27, 2015
DALLAS-Five people were killed in Garland and two others were killed in Copeville as high winds and storms passed through North Texas, police said.
The five Garland deaths are believed to have possibly been blown off Interstate 30. Two were reported dead at a gas station on Texas 78 in Copeville, which is in northern Collin County.
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It appears that the five people killed in Garland were driving on westbound I30 and were blown off the highway by high winds onto the Texas 190 service road below, said Garland police spokesman Mike Hatfield. Officers are still sorting through the wreckage to figure out exactly what happened.
“We’re dealing with darkness out here,” Hatfield said. “All of the street lights and highway lights are out.”
It is unclear exactly how many people were injured in the wreckage on I30, he said. Injuries were also reported at a Garland apartment complex. Hatfield said all the residents are outside their apartments with their pets and other belongings. It is unclear whether anyone was killed or seriously injured there.
Reports of damages and injuries are pouring in after at least two to three tornadoes have been reported Saturday in North Texas, including one suspected of touching ground near Garland. There have been reports of as many as four tornadoes.
National Weather Service officials won’t know for certain how many twisters touched ground until they are able to go out and survey damage, said weather service meteorologist Lamont Bain.
The tornado warnings were downgrading to watches by 9 p.m. Saturday but were replaced with flash flood warnings.
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“Flash flood risk is probably only going to worsen overnight,” as a band of showers move through the area, Bain said. During the height of the storm beginning at 6 p.m., rainfall rates in Dallas County reached 2 inches an hour, Bain said.
About 50,000 people are without power across the Dallas-Fort Worth area, mainly in the eastern cities, according to Oncor officials.
Crews are out assessing the damages, and there is no word on when power might be restored.
Two separate tornado cells were reported around 7 p.m. in Mesquite and near Wylie, according to the National Weather Service. And another tornado was reported near Farmersville in Collin County around 7:30 p.m.
The first tornado was reported around 5 p.m. near Interstate 35E near Ovilla in Ellis County. Another tornado was reported near the Garland and Rowlett area before 7 p.m.
Major damages have been reported to homes in Rowlett, DeSoto and Garland. Rowlett Mayor Todd Gottel could not confirm whether there were any injuries but confirmed that many homes near Pearson Elementary School have been destroyed.
In Garland, 24-year-old Dillon Hoelscher said his family’s home on Kelso Lane was “totaled.”
Hoelscher said he saw his father hit with debris that flew through a window as the five people and two dogs inside the home tried to seek cover.
Several other homes on Kelso Lane also appeared to be badly damaged or destroyed.
At a Garland apartment complex on the west side of Interstate 30, Debra Smith hid in her tub in her third floor unit. The 62-year-old woman said the high winds sounded like a train and lasted a matter of seconds. She spent the whole time praying.
“That was the scariest moment I’ve ever had in my life,” she said. “I’m a Texas girl, and I never had one like this before.”
Smith said she experienced three hurricanes when she had lived in Florida. But at least with a hurricane, she said, “you have time to prepare.”
Smith escaped unscathed, although her car was trapped under a tree. Other cars were busted up, and debris was scattered through the parking lot.
Down the road, about a dozen cars were flipped over and power lines had snapped.
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In Rowlett, Shonda Arrandide said her parents’ home was completely destroyed except for a wall and a bathroom.
“I got ‘em all into the middle bathroom barely in time,” Arrandide said of her seven relatives in the home on Woodside Drive at the time.
The family managed to hold onto each other and some medicine while the storm tore the roof from the house. It was one of six houses destroyed on Woodside Drive near Pearson Elementary School. Dozens others were badly damaged.
On a street over, cars were flipped and trees were pulled from the ground. Residents said they believe a twister entered the neighborhood at the intersection of Chisea and Miller roads and exited toward Dalrock Road at State Highway 66.
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