"Tornadoes . . ."

We escaped a deadly bullet Tuesday. We were expecting rain and we got it but it came with some very violent Thunderstorms. In the past 10 years we have replaced two roofs and had two vehicles beat up by hail. This time we had about a half inch of rain, most of which fell in short order, then drizzled the rest of the day.

The TV guys took over the airwaves about 10 AM and stayed with it through about 3 PM. The first place to take a hit was the City of Cleburne, South of Fort Worth astride of I-35W. The Schnieder Truck dispatch yard took the first hit. Trucks were scattered, trailers crushed and pushed around but no one injured.

The next town was a little further East and still South of Fort Worth, Kennedale. Kennedale had a swarth a quarter of mile wide and 4.6 miles long. Most of the Tornadoes were EF-2s, maximum winds of 135 MPH in that town.

Further East and South of Dallas, the City of Forney took a big hit. Several storms rated as EF-3s, maximum winds of 165 MPH.

There were a total of 15 Tornadoes reported with 11 confirmed doing damage. There were more storms to the East of Dallas towards Tyler. And it went on into Louisiana and Arkansas. But the worst of it was here in the DFW complex.

The irony is that the next day, Wednesday, the sun shown clear and bright. Little wind, few clouds, just a nice Spring day. Yet over 300 structures were destroyed or damaged. Mobile homes to the brunt of the damages. There are photos of 2 X 4s embedded through walls of a house and in another house missing its second floor a bookshelve's contents in the kitchen exposed to the open went untouched or distrubed. Many stories of lost pets and survival in closets or in bath tubs. The upshot is no one was killed or even severely maimed.

We always need the water and the reservoirs are near capacity again. But we abhor the Spring storms, they are so violent and damaging. There were 15 reported Tornadoes, 11 of which did damage, 3 of which were EF-3 (maximum of 165 MPH) and 8 rated as EF-2 (maximum of 135 MPH).

With glory of Spring comes the horror of random destruction.