DALLAS — Families across North Texas are starting the week trying to clean up damage left after severe storms hit the area.
Strong winds and heavy rain hovered over parts of the region on Sunday. The impact knocked down many trees, left downed power lines, and caused power outages in areas.
Oncor reported late Monday that it had restored power to over 117,000 homes since the storms.
"Well, the zoo is closed today. Hate to do it on Labor Day,” said Sean Greene, Chief Operating Officer at Dallas Zoo.
The storms knocked down several large trees across the zoo.
“About 3 o’clock, straight-line winds, we think at 70 miles an hour, came ripping through here,” said Greene.
The damage was so significant, that it forced the Dallas Zoo to shut down on Monday. Staff had to turn visitors away, so crews could focus on cleaning things.
The inconvenience from Sunday’s storms could be felt in neighborhoods across North Texas.
“It was so windy, I couldn’t see the house because the rain was so intense,” said Marc Needham in East Dallas.
Needham is among the residents who were stuck cleaning up debris. The strong wind sent his concrete fence crumbling to the ground.
“Our major damage, of course, is this fence that was knocked over. We just got finished repairing it. As you can see, it just cracked it all the way down,” said Needham.
Crews from Oncor were busy working to restore power in some areas.
Meantime, the crew at Dallas Zoo said it was happy no guests, staff, nor animals were hurt.
“This is just one other event in a somewhat crazy weather summer,” said Needham.
In Richardson, homeowner Jason Henry walked out of his home Sunday evening only to find a massive decades-old tree in his front yard.
The tree's roots are actually across the street in a neighbor's home but toppled across the road during the storm.
No one was hurt or harmed, thankfully.
"It wasn't a loud crash, it was like a thud. We walked outside, and all we saw was a tree," Henry said.
"Just super grateful and super blessed that everyone is OK. Just an incredible sight to see."
