Pop-up severe thunderstorms Wednesday evening left a trail of damage and thousands without power in Navarro County.
Large broken limbs, uprooted trees and downed power lines were a common scene across several cities and towns. The damage in Corsicana was widespread.
“I’m really quite surprised at the enormity of the damage in this town," said Cran Dodds, whose neighborhood was hit hard. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a storm like this before. And I’ve been around for a few years.
Hundreds of trees were split, downed, or even fell into homes.
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“A limb about this big around looked like somebody had thrown it, jammed it straight through the roof. It was just sticking out," said Dodds.
Residents spent much of Thursday cleaning up the tree debris and helping each other through the mess.
"One thing about Corsicana is we are family oriented," said Corsicana resident Barbara Kelley. “There was a young man who stopped and helped my husband cut up the tree. That’s what it was about. We are about our community."
The main issue now is electricity.
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Thousands lost power during the storm but energy crews have been working nonstop to get the lights back on.
Nearly 2,000 customers were still without power nearly 24 hours after the storm, according to Oncor's outage map as of Thursday evening at 5 p.m.
The Corsicana Public Library is currently serving as a cooling center while families wait.
"It got to be about 80° in the house so I just ended up wedding rags and putting it on my face in my feet because I'm a hot sleeper," said Morgan Murray, who lost power. “I’m just glad that the library was open today and that they have power and Wi-Fi so I’m able to work."
Even as the sun set on Navarro County, nearly 1,000 people remained without power.
"We’re hopeful that it will be back up. I know they’re out there and they’re working hard. There’s a lot of people out there working," said Yolanda Jackson.
Jackson, along with her 16-year-old son Anthony McKinney, spent Thursday with the windows of their Corsicana apartment covered, doing their best to block the day's heat as they marked a full day without power.
“We’ve just been trying to stay hydrated and Internet surf. That’s pretty much all we’ve done," she said.
PHOTOS: Navarro County Storm Damage
Meanwhile, a train derailed along Highway 31 and SE County Road 0080 in Powell, nine miles east of Corsicana. Strong winds may have played a role in the mess.
The Navarro County Office of Emergency Management said on Wednesday evening, radar data and damage inspections indicate there were straight-line winds of more than 80 mph at the time. Union Pacific is pointing to the winds as the cause too, but the National Weather Service has not yet confirmed.
Rail employees were at the site early in the morning, working to repair the tracks and overturn the 26 cars. Fortunately, no one was hurt and nothing was spilled, according to Union Pacific officials.
Elsewhere, winds knocked down an old building in downtown Rice -- a city just south of Ennis -- smashing parked cars. Rice ISD canceled summer school classes on Thursday due to downed trees on the roads.
Most of Wednesday night’s storms impacted the Eastern part of the county. While cleanup is expected to continue through the weekend, residents are thankful no one was hurt.
“That’s the blessing part of it, nobody got hurt," said Kelley. “We came together and people are helping each other out. We’re going to weather this storm just like any other storm."
