Wise County Messenger

Popular Categories

No categories found.

Storms wreak havoc

Briar hit hard by straight line winds

SCATTERED DAMAGE – Debris littered the roadway on Farm Road 730 in Briar at the Wise-Tarrant county line. A microburst Saturday caused significant damage to businesses and homes. Messenger Photo by Micah McCartney

Power lines dangled toward the pavement, trees were torn to shreds and Farm Road 730 looked like a war zone Saturday night after a storm that seemingly came out of nowhere brought swift destruction tiptoeing along the Wise County line.

First responders from Tarrant, Parker and Wise counties worked the area, shutting down FM 730, which was obstructed with debris.

Initial reports indicated 20 RVs in Tarrant County were blown over after a downburst of heavy rain and winds. The damage was centered around Briar, located just outside the southern outskirts of Wise County.

Due to the damage, many in the area thought they had just survived a tornado, at least a small one. The National Weather Service (NWS) determined straight line winds were to blame.

“It was a classic microburst – what we call straight line winds,” said NWS-Fort Worth meteorologist Dan Huckaby. “You have cold air rushing out of the thunderstorm straight down, and that wind can’t go into the ground, so when the air reaches the ground, it goes in all directions. You can usually find the damage, trees down, all blown out from one specific location. Based on the photos and videos we’ve seen, it supports what we saw on radar, that it was straight line winds.”

WET ROADS – Drivers faced high water on Business U.S. 380, underneath the U.S. 81/287 bridge, in Decatur Tuesday as heavy rains fell across Wise County. Messenger Photo by Micah McCartney

Huckaby said the winds had the potential to reach 70 miles per hour or more from Saturday’s storm.

NWS describes straight line winds as a weather event caused by a heavy cloud layer 8,000 feet in the air that moves over hot, dry air below. When it starts raining, a pocket in the sky opens up that sends heavy, cold air plummeting toward the ground at a high rate of speed. Those winds can potentially reach more than 100 miles per hour, according to NWS, hitting the surface and spilling out in all directions.

Wise County Emergency Management Coordinator Cody Powell said the brunt of the damage was outside of Wise County near the southern border. Residents in New Fairview reported roof damage and flyaway trampolines. Several other residents were left without power. The storm’s epicenter performed a tightrope act along the Wise and Tarrant county lines.

Wise County EMS responded Saturday night, mostly providing mutual aid to Tarrant County residents, EMS Administrator Randall Preuninger said.

NWS had issued a severe thunderstorm warning for parts of North Texas earlier in the night. The Tarrant County Sheriff’s Office said there were no serious injuries or deaths from the storm.

The microburst storm was just the beginning of a surge of rain and thunderstorms expected in Wise County this week. Heavy rains have put the area in a flash flood watch from Monday night through Thursday morning, with rainfall totals predicted of 4 to 8 inches.

The thunderstorms brought slick and flooded roadways Tuesday, resulting in 14 wrecks, according to Communications Manager Susan Gomez with the Wise County Sheriff’s Office.

Powell said the recent rainstorms have not had an affect on the county’s current burn ban.

The Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI), which measures the wildfire potential by taking into account the soil moisture on a scale ranging 0 to 800, was at a county average of 646 Tuesday.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.