By Scott Harvey
Large portions of Northeast Texas were affected in some form or another Tuesday night as a long line of severe thunderstorms, which produced some hail and at least one tornado, pushed through the region.
The National Weather Service at around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday indicated a tornado moving through southeastern portions of Collin County, although no reports of any serious injuries.
The storm diminished a bit as it pushed east and entered Hunt County, but didn't diminish enough for some Greenville residents. Several citizens living in the Ardis Heights area of Northeast Greenville told KETR Tuesday night they had completely lost power. Another woman said a tree had fallen on her house, which was causing some minor leakage through her roof.
Reports indicate the Medical Arts building, located in the 4800 block of Wellington Street in Greenville, suffered some of the heaviest damage. Straight-line winds are said to have tore the roof from the building and ruptured a gas line.
For a short time last night, the Greenville Police Department was without power. Officials had to re-route all emergency calls to Commerce during that time.
An individual in Cumby tells KETR he was without power Tuesday night as well.
Power surges were reported throughout the evening, but according to Encore Official Stan McKey, there were no reports as of last night of any significantly long blackouts. McKey says the largest outage occurred in Wolfe City, where approximately 80 customers were without power for no more than an hour. Hunt County Fire Marshall Richard Hill says as of early Tuesday morning, power had been restored to all county residents.
KETR would like to thank those who called in their eyewitness reports last night, which included residents from Commerce, Bonham, Forney, Winnsboro and Birthright, just north of Sulphur Springs.