Severe thunderstorm watch issued for Dallas-Fort Worth as many residents without power

More than 500,000 people were without power Tuesday morning in the dallas-Fort Worth area the region remained under a severe thunderstorm watch.

Some North Texans woke up to tornado sirens wailing early Tuesday after the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for parts of the region until 6:30 a.m.

A severe thunderstorm watch was issued through 11 a.m. for 21 counties in North and Central Texas, including Dallas, Ellis, Kaufman and Tarrant. A flash flood warning was also in place for some areas of Dallas-Forth Worth through 9 a.m.

The earlier tornado warning, meaning either a tornado had been spotted or a radar has picked one up, warned storms could bring destructive winds of up to 80 mph and half dollar size hail. It also had the potential to damage roofs, windows and vehicles.

People were urged to seek shelter in a sturdy enclosure.

Weather sirens, heavy rain, gusty winds and hail were started being reported before 6 a.m. in parts of Dallas and North Texas.

Dallas’ outdoor warning system, which is made up of 178 sirens, was initially activated in Far North, northeast and southeast Dallas for a tornado warning, according to the City of Dallas Office of Emergency Management. Minutes later, the agency said the warning system was activated citywide for 2.5-inch hail and 70 mph winds.

Thousands of people were without power in North Texas after outages Tuesday morning in Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Tarrant, Rockwall and Wise counties, according to Oncor’s outage map.

The total amount of customers affected in those counties as of 7 a.m. was nearly 540,000 with more than 339,000 of those being in Dallas County.

“We are currently monitoring and responding to outages caused by thunderstorms producing large hail and wind gusts up 60 mph in DFW,” a message on Oncor’s website said. “Severe storm watches and warnings remain in effect throughout the evening for parts of our service area. We appreciate your patience as we work as quickly and safely as possible to restore power.”

The severe weather caused at least one school district Tuesday.

Citing student and staff safety, Garland ISD officials said on X, formerly Twitter, that all district schools and offices would be closed due Tuesday because of severe weather.

DeSoto ISD officials said start times for students and staff would be delayed by two hours because of “temporary power interruptions.”

The storm followed a weekend of deadly severe weather.

Tornadoes that touched down in North Texas on Saturday evening left seven people dead and about 100 others injured, according to state officials.

Here is the latest KXAS-TV (NBC5) weather forecast:

TUESDAY: Partly cloudy and very warm with a 30% chance of a storm. Low: 72. High: 89. Wind: SE 10-15 mph.

WEDNESDAY: Partly to mostly cloudy and warm with a 40% chance of a storm. Low: 69. High: 85. Wind: SE 10-15 mph.

THURSDAY: Partly to mostly cloudy and warm with a 40% chance of a storm. Low: 70. High: 85. Wind: SE 10-15 mph.

FRIDAY: Partly to mostly cloudy and warm with a 40% chance of a storm. Low: 72. High: 85. Wind: SE 10-15 mph.

SATURDAY (JUNE BEGINS): Partly to mostly cloudy and warm with a 30% chance of a storm. Low: 72. High: 87. Wind: SE 10-15 mph.

Staff writer Jamie Landers contributed to this report.

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