Lightning — Van Zandt, Texas

2010-04-24 · near Phalba, Van Zandt, Texas

Event narrative

The county newspaper reported that lightning caused a fire at a residence on County Road 2309. One man died in the fire as he reentered the residence to try and put the fire out. Nine children in the home escaped with only minor injuries. Two other house fires were also reported in the county: one on CR 3814 and a vacant house on CR 2319.

Wider weather episode

A linear mesoscale convective system developed in Lampasas County and moved northeast through north Texas on the night of Friday, April 23rd into the early morning hours of the 24th. There were some isolated reports of hail up to the size of golfballs, however most of the damage from these storms resulted from strong straight-line winds up to 90 mph. There was a brief tornado in Mabank in far southeastern Kaufman County. Most of the damage associated with the strong winds were downed trees, power poles, and power lines, but some building and residential damage was evident. Thousands of residents lost power during the event.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (32.4070, -95.9198)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 225226. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.