Power is gradually being restored across a swath of North Texas where severe weather rumbled through Monday night with drenching rains, vivid lightning, damaging winds and at least one tornado.
A tornado was reported by the National Weather Service in Johnson County and moved east into Ellis County around midnight Tuesday. A few later, the damage reports started coming in -- multiple power poles and trees downed near Joshua, homes damaged a couple of miles south of Lilian and, near Venus, three mobile homes were damaged along with barns and out-buildings.
Survey crews from the National Weather Service will be out during the day to confirm the amount of damage. The NWS also confirmed a tornado about two or three miles west of Celina in Collin County. Trees and power lines were downed. The tornado was on the ground for roughly three-to-five minutes, officials said.
Also in Collin County, high water in McKinney swept away at least three vehicles Monday night, officials said. Four people -- three drivers and a passenger -- were rescued by the McKinney Fire Department’s Special Operations Teams, who waded out pulling inflatable boats to bring the victims to dry land. No one was hurt.
In Ellis County, wind gusts were clocked at close to 45 mph and a possible tornado knocked a big rig onto its side, where it was parked at a Love's truck stop in Midlothian.
The driver was trapped inside and firefighters had to break out the windshield to pull him free. He did not appear to be injured.
In Kaufman County, straight-line winds damaged carports and power lines around 1 a.m. Tuesday, the National Weather Service said. Three carports were damaged or destroyed along U.S. Route 175 and a tree toppled some power lines on North Woods Drive.
Another tree crashed onto a car and a home on Country Road 4015. A barn and a home were damaged by estimated 85 mile-an-hour winds on Mister B's Boulevard.
At one point, nearly 35,000 Oncor customers across North Texas were without power. The hardest-hit area was Collin County where nearly 6,000 homes and businesses were in the dark at one time.
Related
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow NewsRadio 1080 KRLD