Storms that delivered heavy rain, destructive winds, large hail and tornadoes pushed eastward out of the Dallas-Fort Worth region late Thursday, leaving hundreds of thousands in the dark and widespread wind damage.
A Tornado Watch issued for most of North Texas expired at 10 p.m. A few non-severe showers remained possible into the early hours of Friday morning along with some lingering gusty winds of 40 mph to 50 mph which should be gone by 10 a.m.
Thursday's storms forced the cancellation of afterschool activities, damaged buildings and marinas, overturned vehicles, cut power to tens of thousands of utility customers and delayed hundreds of flights out of area airports.
Some schools announced cancellations for Friday. Click here for a full updated list.
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At about 5:30 p.m. a strong line of storms coalesced and pushed toward the Metroplex from the west. At the same time, The National Weather Service issued storm warnings in Tarrant, Johnson and Parker counties warning of the danger of "destructive" straight-line winds up to 80 mph.
A short time later, winds of 86 mph were recorded in River Oaks and winds of 77 mph were recorded at Meacham Airport, both in Tarrant County.
Similar warnings for "destructive" winds up to 80 mph were issued just after 6 p.m. for Dallas and Collin counties. It wasn't long after that when Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport reported gusts up to 67 mph and the NWS recorded winds of 76 mph at Dallas Love Field Airport.
As the storms moved east, emergency warning sirens were blaring in several North Texas cities -- often for straight-line winds in excess of 70 mph, though the NWS did issue a tornado warning in Dallas County after rotation was spotted in the Cockrell Hill area moving southeast toward Red Bird. It's not immediately clear if a tornado touched down in the area.
Initial damage reports from the wind included downed powerlines and blown-out transformers that cut power to more than 260,000 customers in Collin, Dallas, Denton and Tarrant counties.
On the roads, NBC 5's team of reporters and photojournalists found a number of overturned vehicles, including four tractor-trailers along U.S. 75 in Collin County and another along Interstate 20 in Parker County.
There were dozens of reports of damaged roofs, including one that partially collapsed at a shopping center in Little Elm along Eldorado Road.
In Hurst, the NWS reported a roof had been ripped off an apartment building.
It is not immediately clear if anyone was injured in the storm.
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