In North Dallas, many roads and streets remain closed due to debris and damage from Sunday night’s tornadoes – including arterial roads that are causing traffic to spill onto highways.
Rush hour along roads like Forest Lane is busy on a good day, but with Royal Lane to the south impassable, traffic barely moves.
The City of Dallas says bulk debris and tree removal will start on Wednesday in the hardest hit area, in an effort to help clear the streets.
Dallas says the cities of Fort Worth and Arlington will send crews to help while brush and bulk collections for non-tornado impacted zones will be suspended citywide for four weeks to free up resources for tornado recovery.
Councilwoman Jennifer Staubach Gates, who represents much of the impacted area in North Dallas, says the city will also provide police escorts to help crews navigate the worst-hit zones – a new approach since the June storms that slows bulk pickup over the summer.
Staubach Gates said crews hoped to reopen Hillcrest Road and Inwood Road as soon as Wednesday. There is no timetable yet for reopening Preston Road and Royal Lane, where the tornado damage is substantial.
Anyone who doesn’t haven’t to be in the recovery zone should avoid the area, she added.
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The City says Dallas police are working to better organize a traffic plan and provide road closure updates online.
Though some of the closures change frequently as power crews work through the path of the tornado.
The travel troubles are preventing some residents from getting in and out of their neighborhood.
Delbert Gibbs promised to bring lunch to friends who are dealing with a severely damaged home and have been stuck in their neighborhood.
"All the roads are virtually hard to get through because there's only one-way traffic and people are coming both ways," said Gibbs. "I had to take one detour because they were bringing a tree down over the street."
Gibbs carried bags of food on foot. He said he parked miles away to avoid further ensnaring traffic.
"It is chaos," he said.
Packed into a golf cart with two friends, Katelyn Barbier-Mueller, passed out sack lunches and waters to contractors and clean-up crews.
"One of the guys working told us earlier that if they get out to leave for lunch, it takes them two hours to get back in," said Barbier-Mueller.
The Dallas resident and her friends attend Highland Park Presbyterian Church but are volunteering with Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church to help keep recovery efforts on track.
"We just think it is important to be the hands and feet of Christ and to get out here and actually help the guys helping," Barbier-Mueller said.
