Cleanup of Storm Damage Continues Across North Texas

Storms left a path of damage across North Texas on Father's Day –- ripping the roof off of an apartment building in Dallas, uprooting trees in Fort Worth and tearing down power lines in Arlington.

Residents and crews will continue cleaning up Monday. The National Weather Service will survey damage and determine whether a tornado touched down in North Texas.

Trees were snapped and shingles were torn from homes in Fort Worth.

Storms peeled the roof off the El Cielo apartments on Columbia Avenue in Old East Dallas Sunday afternoon, and shattered windows in several units.

Resident Robin Millsap was in her third-floor apartment with her husband, Michael Williams, when the storm roared through.

"We heard something that didn't sound right, so I looked out the window and my husband said, 'Get out of that window,' and I immediately threw myself on my floor and covered myself with a pillow. I heard the glass just coming in," Millsap said.

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A back window of the apartment also shattered, and Williams discovered a TV that was on top of a dresser was pulled out of the window behind it.

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"Boom! I just heard this, like an explosion, then I see my beautiful TV fly out of the window," Williams said.

A few doors down, the ceiling gave way in another apartment. A woman who stays in the unit said she was running errands when the ceiling caved in. No one was hurt.

Margie Luna said the strong winds moved her van, parked near her front door. Her family rushed into a bathroom, fearing a tornado.

"I was scared," Luna said. "I thought everything was going down."

The path of damage was intense, but appeared to be confirmed to a small area in Old East Dallas. Bricks were ripped off buildings and another large tree fell onto a house, converted into apartments, on nearby Elm Street.

"The wind was tremendous," George Cooper said. "About as bad as one I've ever seen and I'm 66 years old."

Behind the Egg Roll Hut on Columbia Avenue, air conditioning units littered the parking lot. One of the units appeared to hit an SUV parked outside.

No injuries were reported in the immediate aftermath of the storm.

Many in the neighborhood lost power during last Sunday's wind storm. They braced for the worst when the skies darkened once again.

"I'm just happy to survive it and that's a blessing in itself," Williams said.

Several homes near Heritage Place Parkway in North Fort Worth sustained serious damage in the storm.

"It seems like déjà vu all over again," homeowner Leticia Martinez said. "It's bringing back memories from 2008 because I got struck by lightning."

The front of her house had to be replaced after lightning caused a fire in 2008.

Now, the second story was deemed too unstable by a code compliance officer for her to return home.

In Arlington, power crews were called to fix downed utility poles that knocked out power to businesses near Medical City Arlington.

In a nearby neighborhood by West Green Oak Boulevard a trampoline got swept up into a tree.

As the cleanup begins for thousands of DFW residents, many said they would on neighbors for support.

"I want to cry, but I know everything is going to be OK as long as souls and humans and my neighbors are all OK. That;s all that matter," Martinez said.

The Fort Worth Fire Department said code compliance employees would be working around the clock to pick up fallen trees across the city.

Officials said parks department employees would also pick up trees and clear roads.

If any Fort Worth resident has a large pile of trees that need to be picked up, they are asked to call 817-392-1234 or email 1234@fortworthtexas.gov.