North Texas faces recovery after devastating March storms - CBS Texas
/ CBS Texas
Severe weather in North Texas causes major damage and displaces hundreds
The first severe weather of 2025 may have come and gone, but it left a big mess across North Texas.
Winds in excess of 80 miles per hour that were part of overnight storms left a path of destruction that businesses and homeowners are still working to clean up and repair.
In Parker County, gusts of 81 miles per hour tossed around RVs before moving into DFW and Irving, where the National Weather Service said a small tornado tore into the side of an apartment complex while tenants were sleeping.
"I had the covers over my head because I thought the windows were going to blow through."
About 350 residents of that apartment complex are temporarily without a home but have been relocated to a shelter at a nearby recreation center.
In Lewisville, a building collapsed from the line of storms that sent debris onto a nearby highway.
"I was in my truck right here, and I heard something very loud," said Joseph Kelly, with Kelly General Construction. "And then I looked behind me, and there was a huge debris, like a vortex and tornado right behind my truck, and I was able to pull around that building there and get out of the way."
A number of homes under construction in the Tarrant County town of Haslet collapsed into a pile of rubble.
The storms also uprooted huge trees and caused other damage in the southern Dallas County town of Glenn Heights.
In Plano, strong winds flipped over a small plane parked at a private airport and tore off part of the roof of Plano West Senior High School.
Nearby residents had their own damage to deal with.
"I got up to let my puppy out, and then it got real stormy. Real fast. Real loud. Ran into the bathroom," said Liz McElhattan, a plan homeowner. "And just like that, it was over."
Downed power lines at one point left more than 330,000 Oncor customers in the area without power, including fast food restaurants in Sachse that remained closed all day.
With mangled stop lights disrupting traffic and debris blocking streets, the early arrival of spring storm season in North Texas has left a lasting impression.
