InsaneJournal

120,000 still without power in Dallas area
08:02 AM CDT on Friday, June 12, 2009
By EMILY TSAO / The Dallas Morning News
etsao@dallasnews.com

About 120,000 customers remain without power from storms that walloped Dallas-Fort Worth the past two days, Oncor said this morning.

Severe thunderstorms that arrived Wednesday evening and continued to pound North Texas most of Thursday caused more than 500,000 customers to lose power, making it one of the three worst storms in Oncor history, said company spokeswoman Jeamy Molina.

Crews from other utilities in Louisiana, Alabama and Missouri have arrived in Texas to assist and restoration efforts are expected to last through the weekend, she said.

The National Weather Service is forecasting temperature highs to reach 96 degrees today, and Molina is encouraging affected customers to seek alternative shelters.

Dallas and surrounding counties remain under river flood warnings today, and flash flooding may occur if storms develop again this afternoon or evening, said Dennis Cavanaugh, a weather service meteorologist.

Much of North Texas received a soaking Thursday. Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport received a total of 3.6 inches of rain during the storms. On Thursday, the airport recorded 2.7 inches of rain, breaking a previous June 11 rainfall record of 1.19 inches set in 1945. One rainfall gauge at Sargent Road at Morrell Avenue in South Dallas recorded 8.15 inches during the storms, Cavanaugh said.

Clouds blocked out the sun and kept temperatures below normal Thursday with the high reaching 85 degrees at Dallas/Fort Worth airport. But 80-degree temperatures are not going to last.

The weather service said temperature highs will reach 96 Saturday and begin a slow climb toward 100 degrees by Friday.

“It will be hot,” Cavanaugh said. “It’s hard to say if we will hit 100. But it will be close.”

The last time Dallas/Fort Worth airport recorded 100 degrees was Aug. 14, 2008, he said.