Power Outage in Jacksonville, TX

Numerous trees and power lines downed across northern Cherokee County, including in Jacksonville.

A power line was blown down on Ragsdale Street in Jacksonville.

Numerous trees and power lines reported down across Cherokee County.

Several trees and power lines reported down across the central part of Cherokee County.

A tree was blown down onto a power line on FM 1911-South about 3 miles south of Alto.

An EF-3 tornado with maximum estimated winds near 160 mph that originally touched down in Houston County about 9 miles northeast of Crockett crossed the Neches River into Southwest Cherokee County, where it snapped and uprooted thousands of trees along its path. The tornado paralleled Highway 21 before reaching the city of Alto, where it severely damaged or destroyed approximately 20 homes. Included along the damage path southwest of Alto was the Caddo Mounds Sate Historic Site building, which had its roof torn off, nearly all of its exterior walls removed, and was left to only a few interior rooms in the building. Several people were outside running to get inside for safety when the building was destroyed, resulting in one fatality and a number of serious injuries. Multiple cars in the parking lot were thrown 150 yards into trees and across Highway 21. The tornado then went on to lift and destroy a double wide mobile home, throwing it 50 yards. As the tornado continued along Highway 21, its most significant damage was at a single family home and the St. Thomas Chapel which saw their roofs and exterior walls collapsed. Winds were estimated at 150 mph at this point. ||As the tornado neared Alto, it destroyed three homes along Highway 294 and Singletary Street, recording high end EF-3 damage as it wiped the lower level of a two story home off of its foundation and left the top story of the home 20 yards away from the foundation. This damage was reviewed by tornado damage experts from the National Weather Service (NWS) Southern Region Headquarters, NWS Norman, and the Warning Decision Training Division who all agreed it was high end EF-3 damage (with maximum estimated winds near 160 mph) based off how the home walls were separated from the bolts which anchored them to the foundation. Surrounding damage indicators also validated the EF-3 tornado determination. ||The storm then went on to destroy several homes and mobile homes at nearby Alto Elementary School and Alto High School. It also snapped a metal power pole before crossing Highway 69, where it went on to snap and debark several trees in rural Cherokee County north of Alto before crossing FM 343 and into extreme Northwest Nacogdoches County.

An EF-2 tornado with maximum estimated winds near 115 mph touched down along County Road 1857 southwest of Rusk, where it snapped numerous trees and bent a power pole about 45-50 degrees above the ground. One home on County Road 2210 had its roof ripped off. The tornado crossed County Road 2211 where it snapped the tops of several trees, before it tracked across an open field before crossing FM 23. Numerous trees were either snapped or uprooted along FM 23, with portions of a metal roof and shingles beneath it ripped off of a home and thrown into a open field behind the home. A nearby metal outbuilding was also lofted and destroyed. The tornado continued northeast across FM 752 an intensified where it snapped additional trees and broke/bent 5 concrete poles and cracked an additional 2 poles. The tornado lifted shortly thereafter just east of FM 752 south of the city of Rusk.

Tress and power lines were downed north of Jacksonville in Northern Cherokee County.

Numerous trees and power lines were downed.

Trees and powerlines were downed along FM. 241 and Hwy. 69 west of Gallatin, Texas.

Numerous trees and powerlines were downed throughout the entire county.

Numerous trees and powerlines were downed across all of Cherokee County, Texas.

Trees and powerlines were downed across the entire county.

Powerlines were downed along Hwy. 79 in Jacksonville, Texas.

Trees and powerlines were downed west of Wells, Texas. These trees damaged a residence and a nearby barn on FM. 1911 and near the intersection with FM. 1247.

A high end EF1 tornado began in extreme southeast Cherokee County, Texas just north of the Neches River where it caused roof damage to a home along CR 2829 and blew down several trees. The tornado continued east southeast into Angelina County where it snapped or uprooted dozens of trees and blew down powerlines along FM 1819 around the CR 13 intersection. Several homes in this area also suffered roof damage and a few outbuildings were destroyed. The tornado crossed Choppin Road near Winter Lane where dozens of more trees were snapped or uprooted and additional homes and out buildings suffered damage. Turning more northeast, the tornado continued blowing down numerous trees as it moved over Cheeseland Road and Shirley Lane. The tornado lifted on the west side of Pollock just before crossing Hwy. 69. Winds were estimated near 110 mph.

A few trees were downed near Bullard and east of Jacksonville, Texas from non-thunderstorm wind gusts. Some isolated power outages were reported as well.

Hurricane force winds resulted in widespread trees and power lines downed throughout the county. Power outages were widespread as well with numerous residents without power during the height of the storm and well after the storm. The True Value store in Jacksonville, Texas on U.S. Hwy. 79 east sustained heavy damage when a storage shed toppled on its side and ripped concrete anchors from the ground. Virtually every road was blocked at one point in time from fallen trees in the Jacksonville area. Both residential and commercial structures in the town of Rusk suffered damage ranging from blown-off trim to lost roofs. A large oak tree landed on a home located along U.S. Hwy 69. A restaurant and an adjacent building on North Main Street in Rusk caught the brunt of the storm when high winds peeled off both buildings roofs. There were no report of injuries.

Trees were downed on FM. 347. Powerlines were also downed on Hwy. 204.

Trees and power lines were downed on County Road 1616.

Along U.S. Hwy. 69, south of Jacksonville, Texas, several trees and a power line sustained damage. Damage also occured at a greenhouse on the west side of U.S. Hwy. 69. NWS survey concluded straight line winds caused this damage.

An artic airmass spilled southward out of the central plains and into the lower Mississippi Valley. This cold surface airmass was overrun by a warm and humid airmass which combined with a strong upper level storm system across west Texas. The result was widespread freezing rain. Ice accumulations on average of one inch were common north and west of a line from Mansfield and Arcadia to Farmerville LA. An estimated 235,000 residents lost power from snapped power lines. Upwards of 29 transmission lines atop "H" shaped steel towers were snapped due to the weight of the ice. One man was killed and another injured when a tree limb laden with ice fell on them. Numerous traffic accidents were reported from ice covered roads and bridges. In the Shreveport - Bossier metroplex more than 205 streets were either blocked or partially blocked by limbs and fallen trees. Much of northwest Louisiana was declared a disaster area.

Several large trees and power lines toppled.