© WFAAAerial image from Granbury area storm damage
At a press conference Thursday morning, Hood County Sheriff Roger Deeds said all six people who died were adults, although he did not have their names or other details. He said 37 others were injured, and about 110 homes were damaged or destroyed.
Deeds said the death toll could rise as seven people remain unaccounted for and nearby rural areas just outside the Rancho Brazos subdivision had not been searched thoroughly. But he said he didn't expect anyone else to be found in the rubble. Search-and-rescue efforts were to wrap up by 10 a.m., just before a scheduled media tour of the hardest hit neighborhood.
Police and sheriff's deputies had the neighborhood blocked off this morning. Debris littered the roads approaching the subdivision, and volunteers with the Red Cross were out in force, seeking to help those in need find shelter and other provisions.
At an emergency shelter set up by the American Red Cross at First Christian Church, about 20 people woke up in beds that were not their own. Volunteer Jeff Watson said the extent of the damage to the families' homes was still unclear, but after breakfast, volunteers will conduct interviews to determine what other services the relief organization should be offering in the coming hours and days.
The sheriff added that many residents quickly left the area after the storm to stay with friends or relatives, so it was difficult to know where everyone went. Those from the damaged areas were encouraged to register at the Red Cross's Safe & Well program so officials and families would know who was all right.
Deeds said 250 people were taken from the Granbury area, about 90 of them from the Rancho Brazos subdivision. Sixteen were taken to Fort Worth hospitals and 38 to the local hospital in Granbury. Fourteen were admitted there.
The sheriff said the area was hit by as many three tornadoes.
"It's definitely a nightmare," Deeds said. "We knew it was going to be a tough night in Hood County."
Crews worked through the severe weather to reach people. Deeds said there were some initial breakdowns in communication at first because so many emergency crews were racing to the most-damaged areas to search houses. "But they were taking care of business and taking care of the citizens," he said.
The storms came in from Erath County around 6:30 p.m. with the weather intensifying over the next hour, he said. A tornado warning and phone emergency notification system went out and the tornadoes hit about 10 minutes later, he said.
Dozens of ambulances and other emergency responders had mobilized, with agencies from many cities standing by to help. Firefighters and police officers were going home to home in search of casualties. Much of the area was without power.
Rancho Brazos is a neighborhood just south of Granbury. The hardest hit area is about a half-mile square area off of David Road between Acton and Rhea Road.
Many of the injured were being treated at Lake Granbury Medical Center, Granbury City Manager Wayne McKethan said. Medstar officials said its crews had taken 17 people to Fort Worth hospitals.
Granbury's hard-hit Rancho Brazos subdivision was evacuated, and natural gas was leaking there, officials said.
The American Red Cross had set up emergency shelters at Granbury's First Christian Church and Cleburne's Convention Center.
At the First Christian Church, dozens of people displaced by the storm began coming in about 10 p.m. Wednesday. Many of them were bloody and covered in mud. Many came on buses after their storm-ravaged neighborhoods were evacuated.
"We had one lady who had gotten separated from her child," said Angelina Lewis, a volunteer who was helping at the church. "She had gone all over town looking for him. She was like 'Where is he? I need my son.'"
He had ridden one of the buses with neighbors, she said. "He didn't have shoes on," Lewis said. "He didn't have a shirt on his back. He was wearing gym shorts."
In another case, one man was in such shock that he didn't realize that he had scratches and glass embedded in his back.
"It didn't even occur to him," Lewis said.
As word of the storm spread, volunteers flooded the church. "We just wanted to help," Lewis said.
At the same time, people were spontaneously showing up with donated bottled water, food and other items. People donated air mattresses and sleeping bags.
"Even West, Texas offered to bring us 300 meals," Lewis said.
Red Cross volunteers were on scene to help. Medical professionals provided help to those that needed care for their injuries.
A few took shelter at the church but most of those displaced found other places to stay. Some went to stay with family or friends or in a hotel. In some cases, strangers opened their homes up to storm victims.
About an hour after Granbury was hit, a mile-wide tornado was reported on the ground in the Cleburne area in Johnson County. Heavy damage was reported in a subdivision about three miles southwest of town.
Jamie Moore of Johnson County Emergency Services said that trailer homes had been damaged but that there were no known injuries. Emergency personnel were setting up a staging area at Cleburne City Hall.
Cleburne Mayor Scott Cain said a shelter was being set up at the city's convention center. He noted, though, that downed power lines were making it difficult to get some families out of their homes.
School is canceled for the day in both Granbury and Cleburne, where several schools were damaged and devastation is citywide. Search and rescue crews will be in Cleburne this morning to sift through the rubble to make sure no one is trapped in those homes.
Aerial footage of the area near Lake Granbury showed extensive damage, including torn roofs, flipped vehicles, downed trees and debris tangled in power lines.
A horse ranch appeared to have been leveled near DeCordova, a short distance east of Granbury. Sheet metal could be seen hanging from power lines.
Dixie Lee Hedgecock, a spokeswoman at Lake Granbury Medical Center, said the hospital has treated about 40 patients.
"Injuries were minor to serious," Hedgecock said. "Some have been treated and released already. We have abrasions, lacerations, contusions and fractures."
Another unspecified number of people with more serious injuries were transferred to Fort Worth. There were also less injured patients who were taken on a bus to other facilities.
Hedgecock said Lake Granbury hospital staff triaged the injured at different stations. Hospital staff had just recently taken part in a drill to train for this type of scenario, she said.
"The moment we heard about the weather, we energized our team," Hedgecock said. "We were fully staffed. We practice these things so we were very well prepared."
"We have a code," she said. "We all got phone calls at home."
Those who believe they may have a family member or friend at Lake Granbury Medical Center are being asked to call 817-579-2888.
Sarah Thompson lives in Blue Water Shores in Acton, a community outside Granbury. About 8 p.m., she and her sister, Chloe, heard what sounded like a train.
"It was just loud and scary," Sarah Thompson said. "We were lucky that it didn't hit our house or our neighborhood. It hit the neighborhood right before us and right after us."
They went outside to see what was going on.
"It got really, really light outside, like it was daytime," Chloe Thompson said, "like the sun had just come out."
Sarah Thompson said she could see the tornado circling over the lake.
"It hit the lake disappeared and went over our house and into the neighborhood right next to us," she said.
They had come to the hospital with their friend, Amanda Reeves, to leave notices to let people know that they had room at their house if they needed a place to stay.
Reeves said she, her mother and one of her 6-month-old twins had gone out on a shopping trip to several stores. They were on the way home when it started to hail, but they decided to stop at HEB to get a few more grocery items for dinner.
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"If we would have known all this stuff was going to happen, we would have not gone out," Reeves said.
Rancho Brazos, just south of Granbury, was the worst-hit neighborhood. Most of the homes in that subdivision are new, constructed within the last five years, and many of them were built through the nonprofit Habitat for Humanity program that helps families move into affordable homes.
Lake Granbury Christian Temple Pastor Dean Porter was having a Bible study at the church when hail started coming down.
"It began to suck up debris, and I ran inside and got our people and children to a safer location," he said.
At Stumpy's Lakeside Grill at Lake Granbury, the storm took diners and workers by surprise. Some people rushed inside from the patio and ducked under tables as the wind gusts and hail started, but nobody was injured, said Eric Martinez, a cook. Then they looked across the lake and saw several homeowners' boat docks "just get torn apart," he said.
"The boat docks just flew off, and they're actually gone," Martinez said. He said boards and other debris landed in some yards.
Elizabeth Tovar, 25, who lives in the Rancho Brazos subdivision, sat in the parking lot of a gas station at a loss for what to do next. When the storm picked up, she worried about the danger. Others in the house dismissed her until the winds started howling.
"I grabbed my baby and ran to the bathroom," she said, touching her 9-month-old daughter's cheek. "I'm glad we went to the one in the middle of the house. The bathroom in my room is gone. We just heard glass shattering everywhere."
Jocelyn Trejo, 18, was with her dad and brother outside watching the storm when the tornado hit. They quickly ran inside for shelter.
"It was terrifying," she said. "The most horrible thing I've ever been through."
The American Red Cross said it was ready to work with emergency responders to help victims in any affected counties.
At least two tornado warnings were issued in Tarrant County but were later lifted. Tornado warnings also were issued in Montague, Parker and Wise counties.
Dallas County was placed under two tornado warnings, but those eventually were downgraded and lifted. No casualties or major damage has been reported. Pea-size hail was reported throughout the county, and winds were strong - 60 to 70 mph in the Park Cities.
High waters shut down the southbound side of I-35E near Illinois Avenue in southern Dallas County for more than an hour, according to the Dallas County Sheriff's department. By morning, though, the water had receded and the highway was reopened.
About 6,600 customers were without power in Dallas County as dawn broke. That compares to just over 4,000 in Tarrant and another 1,000 in Ellis County. The heaviest outages affected areas south of Interstate 20, Oncor spokeswoman Anna Kurian said.
In Ennis, a tornado struck downtown shortly after midnight, according to the Ennis Daily News. The paper said several commercial buildings were damaged, and one person was injured. Mayor Russell Thomas sent a request to the governor to declare the town a disaster area. About 25 homes were also damaged along Ennis Avenue.
"It's a pretty rough one," he told the Daily News. "Property is one thing, though human life is another."
Tornadoes also were reported in Montague, Parker and Wise counties. A tornado hit the Parker County town of Millsap, about 40 miles west of Fort Worth. Parker County Judge Mark Kelley said roof damage was reported to several houses and a barn was destroyed, but no injuries were reported.
At least 10 tornadoes were reported Wednesday, although meteorologists noted that some may only have been on the ground for moments.
Hail pelted the region. In Granbury, baseball-size hail was reported near the town's high school, and the weather service confirmed grapefruit-size hail in Mineral Wells.
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport spokesman David Magaña said no flights had been canceled because of the storm but at least 37 flights were diverted to other airports.
The storm marked the beginning of tornado season, said National Weather Service Meteorologist Dan Shoemaker.
"It's not unusual for this time of year," he said. "But we were a little bit surprised at the intensity of it."
A full report from the weather service, including estimates of how many tornadoes hit the area, is expected this afternoon.
Staff writers Tristan Hallman, Tanya Eiserer, Tasha Tsiaperas, Eva-Marie Ayala, Christina Rosales, WFAA-TV (Channel 8) and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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