Tornado leaves heavy damage, power outages in its wake after moving through Dallas

Weather Service suspects more than one funnel cloud hit the area, but no deaths reported.

This breaking news story is being continuously updated.

A tornado left a miles-long trail of heavy damage from northwest Dallas to Richardson late Sunday, and the National Weather Service was investigating reports that other funnel clouds had hit the area.

The city of Dallas said early Monday that there had been no reports of deaths or serious injuries. First responders had been going door to door in some neighborhoods to check on residents. Police and fire crews began assessing damaged structures through the night.

Parts of northern Dallas, including the Love Field area, were hit especially hard.

The National Weather Service will survey the damage Monday and confirm the storm’s strength, but some early estimates suggested wind speeds were well over 100 mph.

Dallas, Richardson, Garland, Sachse and Rowlett were being surveyed, with teams already getting to work by 7:30 a.m. The extent of the damage could require a second day of investigation.

National Weather Service experts suspect that more than one tornado hit the area, with the first one forming north of Love Field about 9 p.m.

KXAS-TV (NBC5) meteorologist Rick Mitchell estimated the tornado’s route may have stretched 17 miles, though the path of its damage may not have been continuous.

Dallas Fire-Rescue responded to calls about people who had been injured by broken glass in their homes, spokesman Jason Evans said.

A line of strong storms containing winds up to 65 mph in some pockets was moving east into the Dallas-Fort Worth area as of about midnight Monday, according to the National Weather Service. A tornado warning for Collin County, including McKinney, Allen and Fairview, was in effect until 1 a.m.

Oncor reported outages for more than 99,000 customers overnight. The number still stood at more than 85,000 at 11:25 a.m.

DART warned commuters of delays before 7 a.m., including problems for light-rail passengers on the Orange and Red lines. Shuttle buses were operating between the Park Lane and Spring Valley stations because of ongoing problems. Street traffic was also slow in some areas, in part because of malfunctioning traffic lights, and backups were reported early Monday on Interstates 30 and 635.

“READ MORE…”