Tornado Events - April 3, 2012 - DFW Area (Dallas, Arlington: high school, live in)

[TXboomerang]

Originally Posted by elMike

Yes, this is what you want to see 2 weeks before you move to Dallas

I've lived here for a little over 10 years. We seem to get a tornado somewhere in the metroplex every 2-3 years, sometimes there are several. The great news is that the warning systems are VERY good, you can even download apps from the local news stations that will alert your phone when warnings are issued. Most radio stations switch to continuous and uninterrupted coverage if a tornado touches down, so you can tune in and they give great info on where the danger is at.
The other good news is that we don't see very many strong tornadoes here. The tornado that hit downtown Fort Worth just barely reached F3 status, and I am not aware of any F4 or F5 tornadoes that have ever been recorded in the area. The 2000 tornado that hit downtown Fort Worth killed 2 people and injured about a dozen. Tragic that 2 people were killed, but when you see that it went directly through downtown Fort Worth, it is amazing that the human toll wasn't much higher.
Most tornadoes we have seen have been lower strength (F0, F1, F2) which means if you take cover you will survive. FAR more people die in flash floods that tornadoes, and flash floods can happen almost anywhere. You will be as safe in Dallas as you will most other places in the US.

[Acntx]

I'm still in shock. I saw the tornado from my backyard and parts of my neighborhood have been devastated. We were in the closet praying that the storm would spare us. Very scary experience. I lost a fence, but there was no other damage to my home and no one was hurt. Just one street over from us, the damage is widespread.

Now that the power has been restored and I have seen how bad this storm was, it is a miracle that there weren't that many injured or killed.

Please keep the residents of Lancaster and the other affected communities in your thoughts.

Here are a few pictures from my area:

This is a house on my street that was heavily damaged. Those two squares are parts of the sidewalk and a street light ripped out of the ground.


Debris in my front yard. In the first picture, what looks like a fence piece came from a nearby house.



More debris scattered throughout the neighborhood.


To see what one area that took a direct hit looked like in better times, here is a post from a photo thread I created a few years ago. Scroll down to the pictures from the Lancaster North/Pepperidge neighborhood. I am almost positive that every one of those homes was either badly damaged or destroyed.

[RooCeleste]

I read that 150 homes in Arlington were destroyed and there were some sad pictures out of Lancaster (south of Dallas) where a line of homes were totally destroyed. By the time it had moved east to the Canton/Tyler area, my mother said it was just heavy rain/wind/some hail but nothing damaging. They got LUCKY with no fatalities from those 12-15 tornadoes!

[SVTRay]

Originally Posted by TXboomerang

I've lived here for a little over 10 years. We seem to get a tornado somewhere in the metroplex every 2-3 years, sometimes there are several. The great news is that the warning systems are VERY good, you can even download apps from the local news stations that will alert your phone when warnings are issued. Most radio stations switch to continuous and uninterrupted coverage if a tornado touches down, so you can tune in and they give great info on where the danger is at.
The other good news is that we don't see very many strong tornadoes here. The tornado that hit downtown Fort Worth just barely reached F3 status, and I am not aware of any F4 or F5 tornadoes that have ever been recorded in the area. The 2000 tornado that hit downtown Fort Worth killed 2 people and injured about a dozen. Tragic that 2 people were killed, but when you see that it went directly through downtown Fort Worth, it is amazing that the human toll wasn't much higher.
Most tornadoes we have seen have been lower strength (F0, F1, F2) which means if you take cover you will survive. FAR more people die in flash floods that tornadoes, and flash floods can happen almost anywhere. You will be as safe in Dallas as you will most other places in the US.

We go back and forth, got a place in Dallas and West Texas...we just happened to had stay in West Texas this week. Anyhow, North Texas does have some really good alarms in place. I think it was a year ago the alarms went crazy one night and it rained so much you couldn't see down town. I believe a tornado touched down but was north of Dallas and didn't do hardly any damage compared to yesterday's events. My point if anything was those alarms was dead on and gave us plenty of time to take cover.


So do they have Voulenteer groups up and helping? We're out of town but will help out when ever I return if any is needed. I also sent some money to the Redcross to help since I can't be there right now.

My thoughts and prayers goes out to my fellow Texans!

[JimBaker488]

I was watching my business/market cable channel (CNBC), and they broke in with live coverage of the twister from a local TV station chopper. Wow that was some sight of those 18-wheeler trailers being flipped up high in the air like empty shoe-boxes. That whole deal could have been far worse as that was a fair to midland-sized looking tornado, 'bout an E-3 I'd say ?

[mSooner]

I was working from home near the M-Streets yesterday...so glad I didn't go to work. I would have been driving up 75 trying to get my daughter around 3pm.

I cant believe Coppell was hit hard with hail AGAIN. Every home we've looked at says "New roof May 2011" on the listing. Guess that doesn't mean anything anymore. I have a friend who lives there and her skylight cracked. Her parent's skylight busted outright and they had some flooding.

[debzkidz]

I've been a bit surprised that I've not heard any mention of Lancaster's past history of tornadoes. Maybe it's been mentioned locally, but I've not heard anything on national reporting of these storms. I remember one in the early to mid 90's, maybe 93 or 94. I specifically remember because my sister got married in Lancaster shortly after the storm, and there was still much damage around. As I recall it was something like an F4. I believe some people lost their lives during that storm.

[Acntx]

Originally Posted by debzkidz

I've been a bit surprised that I've not heard any mention of Lancaster's past history of tornadoes. Maybe it's been mentioned locally, but I've not heard anything on national reporting of these storms. I remember one in the early to mid 90's, maybe 93 or 94. I specifically remember because my sister got married in Lancaster shortly after the storm, and there was still much damage around. As I recall it was something like an F4. I believe some people lost their lives during that storm.

That tornado hit Lancaster on April 25, 1994 and killed three people. I lived in DeSoto at that time. Lancaster's historic town square was devastated, although it has been restored and wasn't damaged in this storm. This tornado hit largely residential areas in the northern part of the city. After literally watching it barrel towards my house and praying for it to turn away, as it did, I hope to never be that close to another tornado again.

[Ablebodied]

Was in Lancaster this morning. Unfortunately they are finding people and care-flighting them to hospitals. My sister and mother were told no one would be allowed back into the neighborhood for now whether you lived there or not.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by love roses

So, I went all day without even thinking of the fact that my husband, the truck driver, went to Dallas today until I read this thread :O So in a near panic because he didn't answer his phone the first time I called, I called until he did pick up. Luckily he was safe, but said as he was driving today, all of a sudden alerts came over the radio and on the road signs to leave the roadway immediately and seek shelter. So, he looks in his rearview mirror and sees the tornadoes behind him, and what does he do? He said he hit the gas and outran it...although he did get pelted with large hail and tons of people were pulling over and running to hide under overpasses. He's still in Dallas though, and may not be home until tomorrow. Thank goodness he got lucky outrunning that thing!

Wow, sounds like a reoccuring dream I had several years ago. It was fascinating. Good idea if its in your rearview mirror, step on the gas!