Ferris resident Terry Murphy was videoing lightening strikes toward downtown Ferris and captured this image of the funnel cloud.
Downed transformer on South Main.
Trash container impaled on railroad crossing arm.
Bent sign in front of the El Taco Tex Mex restaurant at 114 S. Central St., with imploded grain silo in background.
Ferris Auto Supply and Hardware store at 214 S. Central St. with roof peeled back over power lines.
Downed power pole in front of the Easy Wash laundromat at 217 S. Main St.
EF0 TORNADO HITS FERRIS
FERRIS – Residents and city workers are cleaning up the city following the damage from Sunday night’s tornado.
A vigorous storm system running into warm, moist and unstable air across the Southern Plains was the culprit behind the explosive thunderstorm development and subsequent tornado activity.
The warning sirens in Ferris sounded Sunday night during the 3rd quarter of the Dallas Cowboys/Philadelphia Eagles football game, warning residents of a pending tornado.
According to the National Weather Service, the tornado that hit Ferris at approximately 9:50 p.m. was an EFO, with wind speeds up to 85 miles per hour.
Those winds blew over trees, fences and downed power lines, causing wide-spread damage to businesses, homes and schools.
Damage visible Sunday night included shattered windows at Country Corner Treasures at 201 S. Main, and a power pole blown over at the southwest corner of the Ferris Pavilion which struck a parked pickup. The impact caused the transformer to break away from the pole, leaving power lines on the ground.
More damage was revealed in the light of Monday morning. The grain silo on south Main was bent inward as if someone had given it a huge karate chop. Nearby, the Ferris Pavilion metal structure was seen to have a noticeable lean to the south – about eight inches out of plumb. And on Interstate 45, the internet antenna mast at ATCO was down, twisted like a pretzel.
Volunteers from Ferris’ Unity in the Community begin clean-up Monday morning. Frank Hall, and his wife Amber, using their personal chainsaw, were seen cutting up a fallen tree on 11th and Wood St. Jeremy Lewis from Green Funeral Home assisted in repairing a damaged fence on Church Street.
TexDot was onsite, replacing or repairing traffic signs. One worker estimated more than 50 signs were damaged in the downtown Ferris area.
Some downtown businesses were without power until Tuesday, due to the roof of the Ferris Auto Supply being peeled back over power lines, cutting power to the surrounding area.
Including the EF0 tornado in Ferris, the National Weather Service confirmed a total of nine tornadoes hit North Texas Sunday night.
The newly confirmed tornadoes include: an EF2 in southwest Garland with estimated winds of 135 miles per hour, an EF1 tornado in Rockwall with estimated winds of 90 miles per hour, an EF1 near Midlothian, an EF1 in Kaufman County and an EF0 in Kaufman County.
Tornadoes previously confirmed included the mammoth EF3 tornado in North Dallas, an EF1 tornado in Rowlett and an EF0 north of Wills Point in Van Zandt County.
The EF3 tornado that hit North Dallas was by far the most destructive. The National Weather Service says it left a path of destruction for nearly 16 miles and did the most damage when it first formed.