Dallas Tornado Had Winds Of 140 Miles Per Hour

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Photo credit Austin York/KRLD

DALLAS (1080 KRLD) - A team from the National Weather Service has been out in North Dallas surveying the damage from Sunday night's storms. They estimate the maximum winds for the north Dallas tornado reached 140 miles per hour, which would make it an EF-3.

A separate tornado in Rowlett was rated as an EF-1, with winds of 100 miles per hour. A third tornado in Van Zandt County was rated as an EF-0 with winds of 80 miles per hour.

The Dallas tornado caused extensive damage in neighborhoods in the northern part of the city, including at some Dallas ISD schools. Several campuses were closed today. Dallas ISD officials plan to provide an update this afternoon about their plans at those campuses for tomorrow.

Thomas Jefferson High following storm @KRLD pic.twitter.com/KpIWaEs2hT

— Austin York (@realAustinYork) October 21, 2019

Near Royal Lane in Dallas, several homes had extensive damage. "We've been here 64 years and none of this has ever happened," Dot Newsome told KRLD's LP Phillips. She was not injured in the storm. "We're lucky," she said. "No...we're blessed." A member of her church came to Dot's house this morning to clear debris from her driveway. 

Neighborhoods that were hit hardest by the storm could be without electricity for several days. "Our crews have seen that we have extensive damage to our electrical equipment," said Cary Dunn with Oncor. "In many case we're going to have to be completely re-constructing electrical equipment. This means replacing utility poles, hanging new transformers and hanging new lines. We also have immense amounts of debris  over our transmission and our distribution lines, and that debris had to be cleared before those repairs can be made."