Tornado causes damage, injuries in Dallas-area city
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Tom Fox
The street sign on Cooper St. at Secretary Dr. was blown over in Arlington when a tornado-warned storm blew through, Tuesday night, Nov. 25, 2020. No one was seriously injured across the street at the Burger Box restaurant.
A City of Arlington street crewman cleans up debris from The Mirage Apartments complex along Pioneer Parkway in Arlington, Texas, Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2020, after a tornado-warned storm torn the roofing off. Air conditioner units and other structural debris were scattered across the property and street. The crew is trying to get the major thoroughfare open.
An air conditioner unit of a Waterdance Apartments building and the peeled off roof landed on a car during a tornado-warned storm that rolled through Tuesday night. Damage also occurred at The Mirage Apartments along Pioneer Parkway in Arlington, Texas Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2020.
Minerva Rios looks into her apartment after the roof caved in at The Mirage Apartments on Pioneer Parkway in Arlington following a tornado-warned storm, Tuesday night, Nov. 25, 2020. Parts of the roof, air conditioner units and other structural debris were scattered across the property and street.
The roof of a Waterdance Apartments building was peeled off by a tornado-warned storm Tuesday night and landed on residents cars in the parking lot. Damage also occurred at The Mirage Apartments along Pioneer Parkway in Arlington, Texas Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2020.
A City of Arlington street crew loads a large piece of roof debris from The Mirage Apartments complex along Pioneer Parkway in Arlington, Texas Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2020, after a tornado-warned storm tore it off. Air conditioner units and other structural debris were scattered across the property and street.
A woman looks through the hole in her fence as she inspects the damage in her yard following the tornado-warned storm Tuesday evening. City of Arlington street crews were cleaning up debris along Pioneer Parkway in Arlington, Texas Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2020.
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — A tornado swept through parts of the Dallas-area city of Arlington, damaging several apartment complexes and other buildings, displacing 75 families and causing minor injuries to three people, officials said Wednesday.
The Arlington Fire Department said the storm, which passed through the city at around 9 p.m. on Tuesday, caused the collapse of three apartment complexes, two commercial buildings, a church and a home. Gas leaks and downed power lines at various locations were also reported.
About 75 families were displaced by the damage at the apartment complexes and the American Red Cross of North Texas said it was providing them with emergency shelter.
Maria Macias, who lives in one of the damaged complexes, told t he Fort Worth Star-Telegram that she was making banana pies when the loud thunder started.
“Then the roof came off,” she said, and rain poured into her family’s apartment.
“We also don’t have any cars,” Macias said, pointing to two vehicles in the complex parking lot that were damaged. “God took care of us.”
Three people were taken to hospitals with minor injuries, the fire department said.
A National Weather Service survey team determined the damage was caused by an EF-2 tornado with wind peaks of around 115 mph (185 kph).
The survey team was still determining the length and width of the tornado’s path.
Large hail and strong winds were also reported in Oklahoma, but there were no widespread reports of damage.
In the South, tornadoes and severe storms are not uncommon in the late fall and early winter.
“We could get a tornado any month of the year here,” meteorologist Jason Dunn told the newspaper.
The Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma, says more severe thunderstorms are possible throughout the week in parts of the South and Midwest.
