Storms in Louisiana and Texas bring reports of tornadoes, damage
NEW ORLEANS - High winds blew rail cars off the Huey P. Long Bridge and more than 200,000 homes and businesses lost power Monday morning as a line of severe thunderstorms moved across southeast Louisiana.
Five rail cars carrying six to eight freight containers fell from the bridge outside New Orleans, Union Pacific Railroad spokesman Jeff DeGraff said. The National Weather Service reported a 70 mph wind gust at the New Orleans airport.
"According to the crew, they were on the downslope of the bridge heading off the bridge and were working on pulling off onto a siding. Before they could get to that siding, ... the five cars were blown off of the back end," DeGraff said. "They were moving very slowly because they were looking to pull into a siding and being cautious at the weather."
A video by WGNO-TV, taken through a windshield into a driving rain, shows a double-stacked freight container tilting, then apparently pulling over the cars just ahead of and behind it. The big, rectangular containers fall ponderously to the ground, followed by the flat, wheeled platforms that had carried them. There is a bright flash as one car lands, followed almost immediately by a shower of sparks from a nearby power pole.
None of the containers held hazardous cargo, nobody was injured and the cars did not land on any vehicles or businesses, DeGraff said.
Trees blew down across south Louisiana, the weather service reported. One hit a house but residents got out safely, Thibodaux police said.
Entergy Louisiana, the state's largest power company, reported more than 174,300 customers without power at one point. Cleco reported nearly 24,400, and the Washington-St. Tammany Electric Cooperative nearly 4,200. Nearly 161,000 were still without power at midafternoon.
Only 100 or so customers at Washington-St. Tammany Electric Cooperative lost power during the rain, operations manager Michael Stafford said.
"Once the rain passed, we started getting tremendous winds. There was no rain, but the ground was saturated, and trees started falling," he said.
Meanwhile, a band of tornadoes that swept across parts of rural Texas over the weekend flattened buildings, tore the roofs off other structures and forced people to rush for shelter, the National Weather Service said Monday.
Meteorologist Jamie Gudmestad in the weather service's Fort Worth office confirmed that at least four tornadoes struck an area southwest of Fort Worth. As many as 14 may have touched down Sunday in an area stretching eastward just south of Stephenville and Granbury, Gudmestad said.
No injuries have been reported.
Hail described as the size of ping pong balls, and larger, showered the area, and several inches of rain caused flash flooding and inundated roadways.
Storm chasers Spencer Basoco and Lawrence McEwen were pursuing the storm south of Stephenville on Sunday when 1-inch hail suddenly gave way to ones measuring 4 inches or more.
Hail shattered in the roadway ahead of their vehicle but then began striking McEwen's windshield, destroying it.
"There was no possible way to know until it was too late," Basoco said.
National Weather Service forecaster Lamont Bain said earlier Monday that severe weather reached Comanche, Erath, Somervell, Bosque, Hill and Johnson counties. He said Glen Rose received more than 4 inches of rain.
Part of the Waxahachie police headquarters south of Dallas flooded as water several inches deep rushed into the building.
Anita Foster, spokeswoman for the American Red Cross, said in a statement Monday that her agency is assessing the damage and providing assistance to families.
"Overnight, Red Cross teams provided cots and blankets for the shelter set up in Maypearl, and stood by for shelter needs in Johnson, Hood and Erath counties," she said. "The event is still unfolding with flash flooding throughout the area."
Stephenville police said shelters were opened Sunday at the city library and other locations for people to seek refuge.
More severe weather was forecast for North and East Texas through Monday, with forecasts calling for winds up to 70 mph, hail and the possibility of tornadoes.
Other parts of Texas, meanwhile, were lashed by heavy rains. The weather service on Monday issued a flash-flood watch for parts of the Panhandle. Amarillo had received up to 2 inches of rain as of Monday morning, and moderate to heavy rainfall was forecast through the day.
Strong thunderstorms in the Houston area Monday brought heavy rain, downed trees and damaged homes and buildings.
The Texas Department of Transportation reported downpours have led to standing water on roads in Alto and other parts of East Texas, and in Hardeman County, northwest of Wichita Falls near the Panhandle.