The line of strong thunderstorms early Monday morning that spun off four tornadoes caused at least $100 million in damages to thousands of homes and cars, according to an Insurance Council of Texas preliminary estimate obtained Wednesday by NBCDFW.
State Farm said Wednesday they’ve had at least 3,389 home claims, and 1,648 automobile claims alone.
“Most of these claims are hail and wind claims,” State Farm spokesperson Patti Kelly said.
Most electricity has been restored across DFW after nearly 90,000 homes and businesses lost power during the sweeping storms. Oncor said 1,005 customers were still without electricity in the Dallas-Fort Worth area Wednesday afternoon. Crews worked to restore the service, but Oncor will not give an estimate for full restoration.
According to the National Weather Service, a twister with wind speeds estimated at 100-110 mph damaged five homes, one severely, just after 1 a.m. Monday two miles northwest of Rio Vista, about 30 miles south of Fort Worth.
About the same time and seven miles to the north, a tornado touched down just west of Alvarado, packing winds estimated around 90 mph. About 20 homes in Alvarado, about 20 miles south of Fort Worth, were damaged to some extent, said Jack Snow, Johnson County emergency management coordinator.
About an hour later, a tornado with winds of about 100 mph hit the north side of Forney, 18 miles east of Dallas. Four homes received what City Manager Brian Brooks called "significant damage" to their roofs, and a large truck stop sign was toppled.
Also, Waxahachie, about 30 miles south of Dallas, experienced straight-line winds of 80 mph about 1:44 a.m.
John Rodgers, Waxahachie Fire Department battalion chief, reported "sporadic structural damage all over the city," with the roofs of several businesses downtown blown off and the roof of a hotel north of the city showing damage.
The storm also damaged Stelco Industries, a powder-coating business on Interstate 35E in Waxahachie.
Then, a tornado with winds estimated at 100-110 mph hit about 2:30 a.m. Monday near the Cash community, about 40 miles northeast of Dallas. Hunt County Sheriff Randy Meeks said six to eight homes were destroyed or severely damaged in the community of about 50 residents.
Editor's Note: An earlier version of this story listed the estimated damages at $75 million. The Insurance Council of Texas originally estimated the damage at $75 million, but later upgraded the damages to an estimated $100 million. We updated the copy of this story to reflect that more current figure.
