Once again, North Texas was pounded by damaging hail as spring storms rumbled across the region early Monday evening.
Quarter-sized to softball-sized hail was reported as the storm moved southeast from Montague County and into Collin and Rockwall counties, said meteorologist Lamont Bain with the National Weather Service.
The weather service classifies softball-sized hail as 4.5 inches.
Grayson Singleton, 14, is watched by his brother Benjamin singleton, 13, as he vacuums broken glass from the hail-shattered window of his father’s car in Wylie, Texas Monday, April 11, 2016. (John Zak/The Dallas Morning News)
Grayson Singleton, 14, is watched by his brother Benjamin singleton, 13, as he vacuums broken glass from the hail-shattered window of his father’s car in Wylie on Monday. (John Zak/The Dallas Morning News)
Wylie damage
Wylie was among the hardest-hit areas Monday with reports of 4.25-inch hail, the weather service reported.
Tuesday classes have been canceled for all Wylie ISD schools.
“Due to the significant storm damage [the district] will not be able to provide a safe learning environment for all students,” the district said in a Facebook post.
The number of storm damage calls to Wylie 911 overwhelmed the system, and the Wylie office of emergency management tweeted: “Please call only if there is a life-threatening emergency. Please b patient.”
Wylie residents Elizabeth Cummings, 45, and her husband were at their home on Teakwood Drive when tennis ball-sized hail flew through their front windows.
Storm damage at a home on Teakwood Drive in Wylie. (Cheryl R. Poldrugach/Twitter)
Storm damage at a home on Teakwood Drive in Wylie. (Courtesy/Cheryl R. Poldrugach)
“It sounded like someone threw baseball bats through the windows,” Cummings said. “Everything started busting and cracking.”
All the windows on the front of their two-story brick home were destroyed, she said.
Cummings said her home had been damaged by storms last month, and an insurance adjuster had inspected the roof for damage last week. She said he had lined up Matt Poldrugach from Regency Roofing and Construction to make the minor repairs.
But when Monday’s hail stopped, Cummings knew she would need more than minor repairs. She said she was in tears as she called Poldrugach for help.
The roofer and his wife, Cheryl, grabbed a case of water, a box of nails and all the roofing supplies they had at their home in north Carrollton and rushed to help in Wylie.
Cheryl Poldrugach said the 15-person roofing crew planned to stay until all the windows at the Cummings’ and their neighbors’ homes had been covered with tarps.
Beyond a few cuts from stray pieces of glass, no one was injured at her home, Cummings said. But glass is littered throughout the house and buried in some furniture.
“There’s nowhere you can walk without shoes,” Cummings said.
The family pitched a 10-person tent in their living room, where they planned to sleep Monday night. Though one bedroom was left untouched by the storm, the Cummingses said they wanted to to be close for the night.
The purple logos are reports of hail across the northern portion of Dallas-Fort Worth. (National Weather Service)
The purple logos are reports of hail across the northern portion of Dallas-Fort Worth. (National Weather Service)
Damage reports
Warnings were issued in southern Collin, northeastern Dallas, Rockwall, northern Kaufman and southern Hunt counties. Wind gusts of up to 60 mph were recorded, and Bain said there was a lot of wind-driven hail that caused hail to go horizontally into windows.
On social media, North Texans shared images of damage from the intense wind in areas including Richardson and Frisco.
Though no tornadoes have been reported, the storms prompted sirens to go off, and residents in some areas, including near Lake Tawakoni, were urged to take shelter.
There were reports of 3- and 4-inch hail in Rockwall, and baseball-sized hail in Denton, Collin, Montague and Wise counties.
The Wise County sheriff’s office reported several hail-related injuries along U.S. Highway 287 and County Road 2798. The sheriff’s office said tennis ball-sized hail hit vehicles, and two people were transported to local hospitals for injuries, KXAS-TV (NBC5) reported.
A destroyed trampouline is seen in Wylie, Texas after a storm produced hail, some as big as baseballs, in the area late Monday afternoon, April 11, 2016. (John Zak/The Dallas Morning News)
A destroyed trampoline is seen in Wylie after a storm produced hail, some as big as baseballs, in the area late Monday afternoon. The trampoline was in the backyard of the home at left and flew over the house and landed in the lot next door. (John Zak/The Dallas Morning News)
At 4:37 p.m., the National Weather Service reported, golf ball-sized hail blew out windows near Sunset in Montague County, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Delays, outages
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport was experiencing departure delays of 15 to 30 minutes as of 8:50 p.m. because of the storms, according to FlightAware.
Oncor reported dozens of power outages across the region that affected more than 10,000 people.
Forecast
Wet weather could return Tuesday evening. The clouds will start to dissipate Wednesday, and the end of the week should be sunny and warm, with highs in the 70s through Friday.
Lows for the week are expected in the mid-50s.
Stormy spring
Back-to-back hail storms pounded North Texas in March, piling up a total of $1.1 billion in estimated losses in Dallas-Fort Worth.
Last month, nine tornadoes were confirmed by the National Weather Service’s Fort Worth office in its 46-county region, which includes Dallas, Collin and Rockwall counties. The March average is three.
Staff writers Claire Cardona and Hannah Wise contributed to this report.
Hail in Plano at West Spring Creek Parkway and Chase Oaks Boulevard. (Courtesy/ Sriram Srinivasan)
Source: http://thescoopblog.dallasnews.com/
