Powerful winds during a tornado warning on Tuesday morning brought down trees, power lines and large limbs across much of Garland.
The severe storm system swept through DFW around 6 a.m., prompting a tornado warning in Garland, Richardson, Mesquite and several areas along the storm’s path.
In Garland, residents are now dealing with the aftermath.
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Damage is extensive in the Park Groves neighborhood, located along Miller Road and Garland Avenue near downtown Garland. Homes in the area date back to the 1940s so there are numerous trees that are 60 or more years old.
While many trees had strong enough roots to withstand the winds, some other trees were brought down by the 80 mph gusts. Huge branches on the old trees were snapped and fell on top of homes and cars, leading to widespread damage across this part of the city.
Garland Power & Light crews have been working to restore power outages.
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As many as 31,000 people were without power as of 11 a.m. Tuesday.
The city government was forced to offices due to the storms and outages, including the utility customer service.
Garland ISD also made the decision to close all schools on Tuesday due to the storms. It is one of the last school districts in North Texas that still has classes in session for the semester.
School bus drivers were able to drop off early bus riders back home once the bad weather passed.
The city of Garland Sanitation Department also said its employees have been actively conducting damage assessments and will be working extended hours to collect all debris generated from the storms.
At Robert Sarver’s home, a carport was flipped over on top of his house.
"I knew it was the carport. It was a few seconds of hail, then the whole house shook. I didn't know the tree had fallen. I didn't know what it was. Then I realized it's more than the tree has fallen in the house,” he said.
Sarver, who is 89 years old has lived there since 1963 and told NBC 5 he is shocked at the back-to-back damaging storms that have struck North Texas and beyond lately.
"I've never seen it this bad before all over the country. It's not just here. In California its earthquakes, in Florida its hurricanes, we're not safe anywhere, it’s a shame,” he said.
Not far for Sarver, a huge tree uprooted and smashed on top of a truck.
The tree also blocked the entire road. A team of neighbors came together to literally chip away at this tree with a chainsaw – all while fighting through pouring rain and lightning as more storms swept through the area.
Luckily, they were able to clear the tree, but part of the trunk is still sitting on the truck.
No major injuries have been reported so far in the city.
