East Texas

From Staff, Wire Reports

Officials in Gregg and Rusk counties Tuesday night were trying to determine whether damage from storms was caused by tornados.

Rusk County Chief Deputy Daryll Norris said a line of damage, in what appears to be the path of a tornado, extends from New London to south Kilgore.

No injuries have been reported, he said.

Homes and buildings are damaged in New London and numerous trees are down, he said.

Many people were without power Tuesday night after the storm, as very high winds barreled through the area.

Several counties were under tornado warnings during the height of the storm at about 9:30 p.m.

Crews in both counties were prepared to continue to assess damage on Wednesday morning.

Some residents who had to take shelter are convinced a twister hit.

"I have never been so scared in all my life," said Lathelia Oliver, who lives in Gregg County on County Road 46 south of Kilgore.

The roof of their frame home was partially ripped off, windows were blown out and a storage shed picked up and tossed about.

When the storm hit, she said, the windows exploded and she grabbed the family and huddled in a closet for safety.

After the storm passed, her husband, Scotty, noticed that the hood had been ripped off their Suburban. "Lord only knows where that is."

Debris was strewn throughout their yard and large trees had been snapped.

Nearby, on U.S. Highway 259, more houses were damaged, trees uprooted and power lines downed, observed a Tyler news reporter on the scene.

Eddie Sparks said he and his wife were in their mobile home when the storm hit with a fury. He said he opened the door and "the steps literally blew out underneath my feet."

The storm was over in a flash, he said.

"Thank God it was pretty much over. I thank the Lord that I am still alive," he said, as others began removing a tree that had fallen on the home.

Officials with volunteer fire departments were going door-to-door to make sure no one had been injured.

Pieces of tin from a barn had blown into the roadway and were wrapped around power poles.

Gary Wade, a property owner in the neighborhood, said he heard newscasts of a tornado warning that put the storm at their location. He said the tin in the trees and around poles was from a barn on his property that been damaged.

A Gregg County Sheriff's Office spokesman was not sure of the extent of damage. Many in the area were without power.

In Longview, Mark Moore, a city fire marshal, said the emergency operation center had been activated and that the storm had uprooted trees and downed power lines throughout the city. Moore said it was too early to know for sure whether the damage was a result of a tornado or just high winds.

"We have a few roads that are impossible but no serious injuries that we know of," said Terry Miller, Longview Fire Department spokesman.

The area at Young and Electra streets was particularly hard hit, observed a Tyler Paper reporter on the scene.

Along Young Street, several large trees were uprooted and one tree crushed a truck.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or extensive damage.

Tornado sirens were activated in Longview Tuesday night.

Patrick Omundson, a meteorologist from the National Weather Service in Shreveport, said Tuesday night that his agency also received reports of damage in Gregg County.

Omundson said they would send crews out Wednesday to assess damage.

A tornado watch was set to remain in effect until 2 a.m. in counties in far northeast Texas. National weather service Doppler radar was following a line of severe storms that had a history of producing damaging winds in excess of 60 mph. The storms were moving rapidly to the northeast.

The storms were part of line of severe weather that moved through the Dallas area in the mid-afternoon and barreled through East Texas and then into the Ark-La-Tex region.

No significant damage was reported in the Tyler area.

Earlier in the afternoon, storms grounded hundreds of flights in Dallas, forcing an airport control tower to evacuate briefly and sending floodwaters spilling into Dallas-area streets. Authorities were also searching for a teen who was apparently swept away by flood waters.

Street flooding was reported around the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Hundreds of people in Lancaster, located just south of Dallas, were advised to evacuate their homes as nearby Ten Mile Creek rose.

In Mesquite, emergency officials from there and Balch Springs were searching for a 14-year-old apparently swept away by flood waters as he and a friend played in a creek earlier Tuesday afternoon. The missing teen's friend, who was able to swim to safety, said he saw his friend get sucked into a drainage pipe, according to a news release from the Mesquite Fire Department.

Winds of more than 100 mph briefly were reported at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, where lightning struck a ramp earlier Tuesday. Airport officials said the strongest winds occurred in microbursts and caused no damage.

More than half of the 950 flights for all airlines scheduled to depart DFW on Tuesday were canceled, airport officials said. More than 100 incoming flights were diverted.

"This is one of the most vicious thunderstorms DFW has seen in quite some time, especially its ongoing intensity," said airport spokesman Ken Capps. "Add in two snow storms in the past two weeks and this has been one of the most unusual early spring weather patterns in years. We know it can be frustrating for passengers, but everyone's top priority is their safety."

It's unclear how many travelers were affected by the cancellations, but airport officials estimate about 160,000 passengers pass through DFW each day.

By Tuesday afternoon, the FAA began allowing about 30 aircraft an hour to depart. But continuing lightning and strong winds may ground more flights Tuesday evening, airport officials said.

Federal Aviation Administration officials evacuated DFW's west tower for about 15 minutes after seeing a funnel cloud over a highway. A funnel cloud was also spotted over Lake Lewisville, just north of the airport.

At Dallas Love Field, some 20 Southwest flights were canceled.

South Dallas had around 4 1/2 to 5 inches of rain by late afternoon, said Ted Ryan, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Fort Worth. About 3 inches had fallen at Love Field, which is near downtown Dallas. The Fort Worth area got about 1 to 2 inches of rain, he said.

Rancher Reggie Moore looks at the roof truss and sections of the tin roof material from his horse barn that was ripped off in a tornado on Dill Road in Rusk County south of Kilgore Tuesday night.
((Staff Photo by Herb Nygren Jr.))