Dipping down from an early-evening thunderstorm, a tornado sliced through the center of Dallas on Wednesday, galloping southwest to northeast, its passage marked by a rolling plume of dust and the explosive flash of exploding electrical transformers. !–#include virtual=”/includes/brightcove/includes/embed-dallas.htm”–>
It left a trail of battered industrial buildings, broken, gushing water pipes and toppled signs as it rambled from Cockrell Hill to Oak Cliff, West Dallas and the Love Field area before lifting into the sky again. A second and third tornado dropped from another storm cell, one near Seagoville and the other near Ferris, flanked by news helicopters that broadcast every second of the tornadoes’ brief lives. The sudden appearance of the tornadoes culminated a day of incredible weather, as the remnants of Tropical Storm Hermine tore through Dallas-Fort Worth, dumping up to 10 inches of rain, causing widespread flooding and leaving thousands without electrical power. Flash floods claimed at least two lives in Texas, closed down Interstate 35 in Lewisville and led to dozens of swift-water rescues across the region. The most precarious came in Arlington, where firefighters used a lowered aerial ladder as a bridge to carry trapped residents from the Willows Apartments at Valleywood Drive and West Pioneer Parkway, where cars were covered to their roofs by the rising waters of Rush Creek. Residents wearing life vests inched across the ladder bridge to safety. One firefighter carried a large dog in a bear hug and brought it to dry ground. With all of Wednesday’s rain, the flooding seemed almost inevitable. But the tornadoes were a fast-developing surprise. At the Southern Tire Mart, near Mockingbird Lane and Irving Boulevard, three telephone poles were snapped, and one was precariously imbedded in the company’s sign. Windows were blown out, and several surrounding trees were downed. A few doors down on Mockingbird, an 18-wheeler had crashed into the front of a building, causing extensive damage and crushing the cab of the truck. There were no injuries inside the building. Ronnie Miller, the driver of the Beaver Express truck, was taken away in an ambulance with non-life-threatening injuries, officials said. He was on his way to do a pick up, said Tom Siegley, terminal manager for Beaver Express. The injured man was able to talk to a fellow employee after he was injured. “He said the tornado came by and he thought the truck was going to get sucked up. He was scared to death,” Siegley said. Tags: After, Dallas, downtown, floods, misses, narrowly, new, tornadoRead Also
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