Storm brings high winds, lightning to Frisco; 2 homes catch fire

Neighborhoods in the City of Frisco are cleaning up after early morning storms brought 1.25” hail, damaging winds and lightning strikes.

Two homes in the Hollyhock subdivision caught fire after lightning struck. The bright blast at around 7:24 a.m. happened right after Michael Youseff had taken out the trash, assuming they were in the clear.

“The minute I walk in, big bam,” he described.

Jeny Harding, her husband and her young daughter huddled together in a closet earlier in the morning after hearing emergency sirens sounding outside.

The city initiated the sirens due to hail and high winds.

She also thought the storm had passed by 7:30 a.m. and went about her morning when it happened.

“It was extremely loud. It sounded like a transformer explosion,” she said. “Not once in a million years did we think this was going to happen.”

Harding says she then started to smell smoke and went outside to find her neighbor’s house on fire.

Youseff also ran over with a water hose to help fight the flames until firefighters arrived within five minutes.

Harding began comforting her neighbors who all got out safely.

“As I was comforting her, I see my house is on fire and so we had to run to my house to get my baby out,” she said.

The city measured wind gusts of up to 80 miles an hour during the height of the storm.

The strong winds brought down trees, tree limbs and scattered debris across neighborhoods.

A large tree limb broke and tore into Kate Shepard’s home near 121 and Coit Road.

The pregnant mother gathered her two children and began scrambling to find plastic bins to gather water gushing into her living room.

“I heard a loud bang, and I thought it was the backdoor,” said Shepard. “I jumped out of bed, I met my daughter and I heard water just gushing and we see water pouring through the ceiling on top of boxes and bookshelves so I kind of freaked out.”

Shepard spent the day cleaning up a soggy mess, grateful her family was not hurt.

Frisco firefighters responded to downed power lines and debris blocking roadways. They also rescued someone from an elevator at an apartment complex.

No injuries have been reported in this storm.

Firefighters from Little Elm and Prosper assisted in the house fires.

Harding is working with her insurance company to assess the damages but is keeping everything in perspective.

“As long as we’re safe, none of this stuff matters,” she said. “We can rebuild.”