The National Weather Service says the tornado that tore through Dallas on Sunday night was an EF-3, bringing winds as high as 140 miles per hour. Yesterday we published a slideshow of photos that illuminates the devastating effect of those winds, the close-up damage to homes and schools and businesses.
Since then, a couple of photos from the sky have been bouncing around. They serve to put the images of destructed neighborhoods in context and might even give them more weight. For every missing roof, tree trunk in a living room, and bent power line, there are many, many more.
This, taken from Dallas PD’s helicopter unit Monday night, shows the thousands without power in the path of the tornado:
Following the path of tornado destruction where the power is out. View from near I-35 and Walnut Hill looking east. pic.twitter.com/Sdh62ZM3rL
— Dallas Air One (@DPDAir1) October 22, 2019
And this, posted by a user on reddit and facing southwest, shows the path in full daylight. Preston Royal Shopping Center and St. Marks—both all but leveled—are seen in the middle of the image, just beneath the tollway, which bisects the shot (annotated version here):
You can clearly see the path from last nights tornado from the air. Taken from a flight out of Love Field from r/Dallas
A few facts and figures to go with the photos:
Dallas tornado started: 8:58 p.m.
Ended: 9:30 p.m.
Max winds: 140 mph
Number of EF-3 tornadoes previously to hit Dallas: Five
Last EF-3: May 26, 1976
Number of EF-4 or above: Zero
Additional tornadoes on Sunday: An EF-1 in Rowlett, an EF-1 in Rockwall, and an EF-0 in Wills Point
Rowlett tornado’s max winds: 100 mph
Rowlett tornado started: 9:36 p.m.
Ended: 9:45 p.m.
Rockwall tornado’s max winds: 90 mph
Rockwall tornado started: Not yet determined
Ended: Not yet determined
Wills Point tornado’s max winds: 80 mph
Wills Point tornado started: 10:59 p.m.
Ended: 11:04 p.m.
Dallas County residents without power (as of Tuesday morning): 26,000
Oncor outage map: Here
Dallas County schools closed as of Tuesday: 20
