Damage to be assessed after North Texas storms

DALLAS — Officials will get a clearer picture Wednesday of the damage from severe thunderstorms that packed large hail and damaging winds, including tornadoes, that swept through North Texas.

Only daylight Wednesday would make the extent and severity of the damage clear, said Fort Worth city spokesman Jason Lamers. "It's been really difficult to get a grasp of the damage at night," he said.

There were no reports of injuries. Initial reports suggested the damage from tornadoes and other winds was largely confined to roofs, trees and lawn furniture and play equipment, he said.

"The hail was probably more destructive," said Steve Fano, National Weather Service meteorologist in Fort Worth.

It was the hail — some as big as baseballs — that damaged cars and windows Tuesday night. At least one report of a softball-size hailstone was received from the Dallas area Tuesday night, Fano said.

Oncor reported 70,000 customers were without power in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Wednesday promised a much more peaceful weather picture, Fano said.

"It looks like the only areas (with thunderstorms) will be the eastern and southeastern parts of the state," he said. Only in northeast Texas was there a chance of severe storms in the forecast.

The storms in Texas were among a series that threatened a swath of the central U.S. on Tuesday night and early Wednesday. Severe storms killed at least eight people in Oklahoma, Kansas and Arkansas, just days after the massive tornado that killed at least 122 people dead in Joplin, Mo.

Storm sirens sounded across the Dallas-Fort Worth area and areas to the north and northwest Tuesday afternoon as storm spotters reported a profusion of funnel clouds. Few of them touched ground, however, and the ones that did, did so only briefly.

Travelers and staff at the two major North Texas airports were moved to safety as the worst of the weather threat crossed moved into the area about 8 p.m. Tuesday.

Everyone in and around the Dallas Love Field terminal was moved to a basement beneath the terminal after the lights went out and lemon-size hail, high winds and radar signatures of a possible tornado threatened the airport about 9 p.m. Tuesday, spokesman Jose Torres said. No tornadoes were spotted, he said, and flights began taking off again later in the night.

"The Love Field basement is huge, and because of the lateness of the hour there weren't too many people in there," he said.

People in the terminals and aboard planes at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport were moved Tuesday evening away from the windows and into interior stairwells and restrooms, airport spokesman David Magana said. A few flights may be able to take off later in the night, he said, but crews needed to inspect parked aircraft for hail damage and runways for any debris.

About 50 incoming flights had to be diverted to other airports to the south, Magana said.

The main concourse at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington was evacuated as a precaution against hail during a rain delay in Tuesday night's game between the Chicago White Sox and Texas Rangers. Club officials moved fans from the concourse into the tunnels beneath the ballpark.

Earlier in the game, lightning prompted evacuation of the ballpark's upper deck.