EF1 Tornado — Ellis, Texas

2019-10-20 · near Midlothian, Ellis, Texas

Event narrative

The tornado began near Highway 67 and 9th Street on the north side of Midlothian and traveled east for approximately 2.8 miles. Several church and retail buildings experienced blown out windows and roof damage. One of the buildings connected to the Lighthouse Church was heavily damaged with the collapse of the southward facing wall and much of the roof removed. Just to the east of Highway 67, sheet metal was peeled on two buildings and metal roof purlins were bent on one. This damage was consistent with winds of 100 to 110 mph, and EF-1 intensity. The tornado weakened some as it headed east and crossed into a residential area south of Mockingbird Lane. Damage indicates the tornado intensified in the area of Morning Dove Lane and Pheasant Drive. Several homes experienced significant roof damage, uplift of the roof deck of at least one home, some windows blown out, a garage door collapsed, and several trees were uprooted. This type of damage was consistent with wind speeds of 100 to 110 mph, or EF-1 intensity. The tornado weakened before ending near Walnut Grove Road.

Wider weather episode

Thunderstorms erupted across the DFW Metroplex as a strong upper level system and a cold front impacted the region on the evening of October 20 through the early morning hours of October 21st. A few storms developed ahead of the approaching cold front in the late evening hours of the 20th, producing tornadoes in Dallas and surrounding areas. Additional storms formed a squall line along the cold front, producing a large swath of damaging winds across North and Central Texas overnight into the early hours of October 21st. A total of 10 tornadoes were identified by NWS Survey teams, occurring both within the storms ahead of the cold front, and embedded within the squall line. The strongest of these tornadoes was an EF-3 that stretched almost 16 miles across the northern portions of Dallas County. Following on the heels of that tornado, an EF-2 tracked about 2.5 miles through Garland in Dallas County. The remaining count of tornadoes included 4 EF-1s and 4 EF-0s. Miraculously, no one was killed or significantly injured in any of the tornadoes! The total estimated cost of insured damage for all the tornadoes alone is over $2 billion, which the Insurance Council of Texas claims is the most costly tornado event in the state's history. Of the straight line wind damage, the most severe was located in Farmersville in Collin Co where a mobile home was rolled and destroyed. Three people were injured in the home. Over a dozen other manufactured homes in the same area were damaged, too.

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Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 856475. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.