Morning Tornado Briefing: Birds Eye View
New information is coming in fast and furious in the aftermath of Sunday’s tornado, so for the rest of the week, as needed, we’ll be providing a quick morning briefing.
National Weather Service Brings North Texas Tornado Count to Nine
The National Weather Service announced that its survey teams determined nine tornados total struck North Texas.
“Severe thunderstorms erupted on the evening of 10/20/2019 across North Texas ahead of a powerful storm system,” the NWS report reads. “A couple of supercells produced tornadoes across parts of the North Texas, including the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. The highest-rated tornado…an EF-3…struck portions of Dallas County, but a high-end EF-2 tornado occurred in Garland. A total of 9 tornadoes have been surveyed.”
Although the entire report is pretty cut-and-dry, it’s still a pretty chilling read when you know the neighborhoods and homes it’s talking about.
Stunning Aerial Views of Destruction
We were pointed to these drone videos of the damage the tornado created. The video below starts by showing what we believe is Cary Middle School.
Another shows the aftermath around Preston Royal Shopping Center.
You can see more at John J.F. Salamon’s Youtube channel.
Dallas Police’s Air One tweeted this photo showing the path of the tornado by the swath of power outages.
Following the path of tornado destruction where the power is out. View from near I-35 and Walnut Hill looking east. pic.twitter.com/Sdh62ZM3rL
— Dallas Air One (@DPDAir1) October 22, 2019
Preston Hollow Church To Host Community Lunch
In addition to collecting school supplies for Dallas ISD schools affected by the tornado, Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church is also hosting a lunch Friday from noon to 4 p.m., with Mi Cocina providing food.
You can get more details, plus information about what they’re collecting, here.
Schools Hurry to Make ‘New’ Digs Ready for Students
Walnut Hill Elementary began moving into Tom Field Elementary yesterday, and preparing for students to arrive.
We lost our building, but we didn’t lose our school! We are Walnut Hill, no matter where we are, and we are ready to welcome our students back to a world class education with love, support and excellence!
With gratitude,
Phillip Potter
Principal
Walnut Hill Elementary pic.twitter.com/Sv5n02RAMW— Walnut Hill Elementary (@WHES_Hawks) October 23, 2019
Sandi Massey, Thomas Jefferson High School principal, took time to reassure students.
Dallas ISD has also released new bus routes for impacted schools, as well as for students of choice and magnet schools who caught the bus at one of the now-closed schools.
There will be a press conference at 1 p.m. to provide updates, and we will be there, streaming it on our Facebook page.
