Two Years Ago When A Storm Blew Trough---

24 majestic and old-growth trees that had stood watch over White Rock Lake for more than 100-years

More Homes Had Trees On Them and I'm not talking about one or two

were lost to the storm and even today, they are missed  where they once stood watch.

Sunday, a powerful outflow boundary came racing across the metroplex ahead of a cold front that meet up with high humidity and dew points that had pushed the temperatures into the 90s.F. As the winds came some were recorded officially at 63 MPH, but in some places, those winds were more strong than the 63 MPH. When the winds moved past the Metroplex, the carnage of its rage was a
complete devastation.

Monday stated out with over 300,000 customers of Oncor, the delivery system for the electric utility parent, TXU Energy, without power. Quickly, the news reports came in that the storm had claimed one life when a Tower construction crane fell into a new occupied apartment building rendering the building unsafe to live in and residents were evacuated. Now, in the third day following the storm, the damage at first hand makes the storm of two years ago seem like nothing at all.

My first look at the damage left me speechless. I could not find words that could relay what I was feeling into words.  The sight of what I had seem had to be absorbed, whole streets reduced to pathways. I have a love for the lake that goes back many years. The giants of the forest have long held me captive and I am not what some would call a "tree hugger". Far from it, indeed.

While I had survived the initial power outage, my power went out abruptly last night just as I was set to listen to the symphony. It had been a long and stressful day and I wanted to relax. That, didn't happen. About 1:30 a.m. this morning, without lights, air conditioning, not even a fan, I slept until 4:30 a.m.when I  got up, dressed and headed for the car. The park portion of the lake opens at 5 a.m. and having stopped at McDonald's for coffee and some breakfast food,  I started the first trip around the lake when  I didn't have to worry about traffic and started  the first stage of an in depth look at the damage of the big majestic that were laid out broken with me hurting at the loss.

Two years ago, I had counted and recounted the loss in the big majestic. That count was at 24. Already this morning it was at 32 with more to come. I headed toward home arriving home just 15 minutes after my power had been restored.  I went to bed and slept a solid 4 hours. Once again, I dressed, packed my camera case and snack tote and headed out to find the caravan of linemen that were arriving in Dallas to help Oncor restore power.

There were crews from Texarkana, TX., Brandon, Mississippi, one group from Alabama and several other smaller utility contractors.The crews were bringing back the power as they worked.  Other crews were sawing the big massive trunks into pieces that were being loaded onto tucks. The Oncor staging area in the parking lot below the towering press box of Lake Highlands High School where it was like a military precision run operation. During the afternoon search for trees that I had missed, turned up more than I had expected making this storm, the worse that I have seen in the past 20 years at the lake. I have 331 images from the first round and 53 more on the second run. These images were only of trees that showed that recognizable tell-tail sign of bright new wood showing, full trees uprooted, old growth that had stripped half the trunk size into two pieces, trees that fell on houses, cars, buildings such as the boat house or office building along a major roadway that surrounds the lake borders.

Since I can only display three images in each post, it would be nearly impossible to show all the images. Some are professional quality while others are for archival record which means that they are

Dreyfuss  Club Picnic Area

The Boat House at White Rock Lake, c.1930s and a Giant cottonwood 

excellent at a smaller size but will not blow up beyond 50 percent. So, I will start with the three most powerful images and then do a couple more post.

There are trees that I miss not being there like we miss loved ones in our lives that are now gone so this really is a spiritual exercise for me. I had a longtime LH resident tell me today, "Thanks for what you are doing". That is what drives me more than anything. It meant something to her and that is good enough for me.



Corrections on 6/12/19 to omitted text because of previous updates prior to publishing.

Storm Update

This evening, there is still some thousands of the estimated 80,000 without power. The winds at DFW officially hit 78 MPH as the line of storms pushed through this morning. The Amazon Fulfillment Center just north of DFW airport had the roof blown off. An FAA tower wast toppled. A Jetway at DFW was blown off. Planes at Grand Prairie Airport south of DFW had major damage to many aircraft. Homes were toppled, Construction Condos were toppled. Damage in Mesquite where the first tornado of the year hit this past week, was reported. One of the TV stations reported that a wind Gage at 80 feet above ground reported winds over 90 MPH. The reading is way out of range for what is going on down near the ground. At 80 feet it would be a different world. But if Hurricane force winds being at 74 MPH, even though these were straight line, 78 would put it at Hurricane force winds.

At the lake, big branches on some old trees were down and between Dreyfuss club point to Sunset Bay, twigs and branches covered the road.The water levels were up all over the lake and several areas had water up to the parking lots.

Five Canadian Geese had dropped in to visit on their northern migration. They seemed to be just resting and taking care of the feathers and didn't seem worried about much else. I  spotted 15 pelicans at high altitude riding the thermals and could only find about 5 more on the lake. I had counted a total on the island before it flooded today at 21 total as a larger number has already taken to the return migration. With the big snow storms still going all over the Rockies and north, no doubt, they are hold up somewhere.

Layover because of bad weather-- most likely.

At this rate, there will not be a tree left in this section. The last storm took out 8 old and big trees.

The big Sycamore across from Sunset Bay has been loosing limbs by the dozens. This is a widow maker with three more still up in the tree hung up on branches.