Denton Judge Signs Disaster Declaration After Flooding; Tornado an EF-1

EF-1 tornado has wind speeds up to 100 mph

Residents and leaders throughout Denton County are dealing with serious damage after a weekend of storms, flooding and at least one EF-1 tornado.

On Monday afternoon County Judge Mary Horn sent out notification that the Commissioners Court will sign a local disaster declaration on Tuesday morning. She cites the weather related flooding that’s already caused damage in the county and the potential for more damage this week.

Several areas including Denton, Krum, Lewisville, Sanger, and Justin experienced flooding situations at some point from the start of the severe storms on Thursday through the latest rounds Sunday. Some of those even resulted in National Guard areal rescues of people stranded in flooded homes or vehicles.

County Emergency Management Coordinator Jody Gonzalez said Monday that the county is experiencing several damaged roads and bridges including a major wash-out between Justin and Ponder.

The county has activated their Emergency Operations Center and Gonzalez said they plan to continue work there with rain coming this week in the forecast. He said forecasters are reporting to him a possibility of 10 inches of rain; while he estimates it’ll only take about two inches to worsen some of those road situations.

One of the hardest hit areas of the county was in the City of Denton along Highway 377 on Sunday afternoon.

The National Weather Service in Fort Worth said their preliminary estimate is that an EF-1 tornado hit the area with winds up to 100 mph.

The storm caused major tree and roof damage and significantly damaged several businesses on the west end of 377 in the city. The owner of SMS Racing which lost most of its roof said his building is likely a total loss.

Elsewhere Lewisville also experienced wind related damage in the area of High School Drive Sunday morning. The City Manager’s Office said about a half dozen businesses took on damage as well as several trees. There’s no word yet on if that storm was in-fact a tornado.

Despite all the damage though, Gonzalez said there are no reports of any serious injuries.

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