Over 750,000 Texans Without Power as Devastating Storms Batter Dallas Area

Over 750,000 Texans Without Power as Devastating Storms Batter Dallas Area

Over 750,000 Texans Without Power as Devastating Storms Batter Dallas Area

RDN Times - Texas is reeling once again as powerful storms unleash another bout of violent weather across the state on Tuesday. This comes after a relentless series of destructive and sometimes deadly storms have swept through in recent weeks. The Southern Plains, too, are bracing for further pounding throughout the day.

Early Tuesday morning, storms thundered through the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area, bringing hurricane-force wind gusts and igniting tornado fears. At Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, a wind gust was clocked at a staggering 77 mph, and power outages quickly escalated across the region.

According to PowerOutage.us, more than 750,000 customers in Texas were left without power, a figure that continues to rise. Over half of these outages are concentrated in Dallas County.

This latest onslaught comes as some residents are still grieving the loss of at least seven people who were killed in violent storms over Memorial Day weekend. Across five states, including Texas, nearly two dozen people, including four children, perished as the central U.S. was battered by severe weather over the holiday period. Many communities are now grappling with significant losses of homes and businesses.

On Tuesday, more than 13 million people in Texas and extreme western Louisiana are facing the most serious threat of severe weather. Damaging storms are expected to push south and east through the morning and into the early afternoon, potentially reaching Houston.

The main threats with these storms include large hail, lightning, and wind gusts as strong as 80 mph, with the National Weather Service warning of the possibility of a few tornadoes as well.

Communities that were rocked by storms early Tuesday may have to brace for more as another round of storms is expected to ignite late in the afternoon in western Texas and Oklahoma, moving eastward through the evening.

Today’s Severe Storm Forecast

The National Weather Service has highlighted areas at elevated risk of severe weather, which could include thunderstorms, high winds, hail, and tornadoes.

These back-to-back deluges pose significant challenges for communities still trying to recover from an unprecedented number of tornadoes and destructive storms in recent weeks.

Sunday marked the busiest severe weather day of the year so far, with over 600 reports of strong winds or hail across more than 20 states, including gusts exceeding 75 mph and hail the size of softballs. Twenty-six tornadoes were reported in 10 states, leaving homes and businesses in ruins and bringing down power lines.

Sweltering Heat Compounds Texans’ Misery

As if the storms weren’t enough, sweltering heat is also affecting parts of Texas, part of a sprawling heatwave that has recently been baking the South.

Heat indices have soared into the triple digits in Texas, Louisiana, and Florida. Although these indices, which measure how the body actually feels considering humidity and air temperature, are expected to drop back into the 90s by Wednesday across most of the South, some Texans will continue to face brutal heat a bit longer.

Heat advisories are in effect on Tuesday for western Texas’s Brewster County and the Davis Mountains and their foothills, with temperatures potentially reaching as high as 110 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.

Extreme heat is the deadliest form of natural disaster in the U.S., surpassing tornadoes and flooding. Skyrocketing temperatures can lead to spikes in emergency room visits for heat-related illnesses such as heat stroke or heat exhaustion.

Heatwaves like the one enveloping the South this week are becoming increasingly common, intense, and long-lasting as the planet warms due to human-driven climate change. These heatwaves are also becoming harder to endure as nighttime temperatures rise, failing to cool down enough to provide relief for our bodies.