One year later, tons of construction is still taking place in Rowlett and Garland.
How's the recovery going?
Good question. Let's start by looking back at what a beast that storm was.
It was a series of tornadoes, actually, and the deadliest local system in almost 60 years. Thirteen people died and federal weather records says 300 were injured.
Over three days, the overall storm system would spawn tornadoes in seven states. North Texas was the hardest hit. First, an EF-3 tornado touched down in Ovilla and Red Oak, south of Dallas, with wind speeds of up to 165 miles an hour. Then an EF-4 hit Garland and Rockwall, with speeds up to 200 miles per hour. Ten people were killed.
Finally two smaller tornadoes hit rural Collin County. They killed two at a gas station in Copeville and an infant in Blue Ridge.
The deadliest spot that day was on an elevated stretch of I-30 in Garland. This is where nine people died. The tornado violently whipped their mangled cars off the highway.
How much does it cost to fix all those structures?
The Insurance Council of Texas estimates the total damage at $1.2 billion.
The City of Garland says about 75 percent of the damaged homes in that community are now re-occupied. But driving through some the neighborhoods you see dozens of slabs where construction has yet to begin.
So there's been a lot of progress rebuilding. But with so much loss of life and property, for some people it’s been a very long, slow year.
