EF4 Tornado — Dallas, Texas

2015-12-26 · near New Hope, Dallas, Texas

Event narrative

The Garland and Rowlett tornado began in Sunnyvale, where several mobile homes were destroyed along a wide and long path. The full tornado length was a little over 13 miles, with nearly ten miles within Dallas County. Nine people lost their lives in vehicles as the tornado crossed Interstate 30 at the President George Bush Turnpike. Another male died after sustaining injuries in a collapsed home in Rowlett. Eight of the 10 died that night, but one died on January 8th from his injuries, and another passed away on January 18th. The tornado affected nearly 600 homes in Dallas County, destroying nearly 400 of these homes. Twenty-two businesses were affected by this tornado, with one business being completely destroyed.

Wider weather episode

A potent storm system brought deadly tornadoes and severe weather to North Texas on the 26th followed by waves of heavy rainfall that resulted in significant flooding across parts of North and Central Texas. Twelve tornadoes were confirmed on the afternoon and evening of the 26th, killing 13 and injuring over 300. The strongest tornado was an EF-4 that struck the Garland and Rowlett areas of Dallas and Rockwall County and where most of the fatalities occurred. Then the waves of heavy rain persisted through the night of the 27th until the upper level low moved past the region. The heaviest rainfall and thus most significant flooding was along and east of Interstate 35 where an average of 3-6+ of rain fell.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (32.7960, -96.5894)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 606471. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.