Power Outage in Mount Vernon, TX

Four power poles were broken in half across Highway 37 north of the Mount Vernon ISD School.

Power lines were downed across Mount Vernon.

Numerous trees...power lines and power outages were reported southeast of Mount Vernon, Texas.

Trees were downed around town as well as powerlines.

A large oak tree was downed along with powerlines.

Trees and powerlines were downed.

Numerous trees and powerlines were downed across all of Franklin County.

Several trees down across all of Franklin County with power outages in Mount Vernon, Texas.

Numerous trees and powerlines were downed in the southern portion of the county.

Powerlines were downed throughout the county.

The remnants of Tropical Storm Ike resulted in numerous trees and power lines downed across all of the county. Widespread power outages were reported across the county as well during the height of the storm which continued after the storm had passed.

A few trees were downed in town. Power poles were snapped near a restaurant on the south service road at the 146 exit off Interstate 30. The storm also damaged the roof at the Mount Vernon Floors and More. Roof damage was also reported at the local Dairy Queen.

Trees and powerlines were downed.

Trees and powerlines were downed.

Numerous trees down and power lines snapped along TX-37 CR-500, FM-3357 and TX-115.

Trees and power lines toppled.

Trees and power lines down.

After trying to recover from an ice storm earlier in the month, another even more devastating ice storm struck the northern third of northeast Texas. Freezing rain resulted in ice accumulations ranging from 1/4 to 3 inches which devastated the middle Red River Valley counties of northeast Texas. Tens of thousands of trees and numerous power lines were either broken or felled from the weight of the ice leaving vast regions of northeast Texas without power for weeks. Bowie, Cass and Red River counties were declared disaster areas.

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.

A strong upper level trough moved out of the southern Great Basin and into the lower Mississippi Valley sweeping Artic Air southward to the Gulf Coast. Moisture laden air from the Gulf overran the freezing surface temperatures producing ice across the northern half of northeast Texas. Ice accumulations of one to four inches fell across most of the area with the ice and snow accumulations near 8 inches. Thousands of homes were left without power due to ice covered tree limbs falling and snapping powerlines. Also, hundreds of chicken houses were destroyed and several 7 million chicks were killed. Barns, carports, and weak structure homes suffered collapse from the weight of the ice and snow. Traffic accidents were numerous and I-30 west of Texarkana had to be shut down when the freeway became impassable.

A vigorous upper level trough moved into the Southern Plains during the late afternoon, evening and overnight hours of November 30th-December 1st. Upper level forcing in response to this disturbance moved into the Middle Red River Valley of Northeast Texas, Southeast Oklahoma and Southwest Arkansas during the evening hours of November 30th and strong to severe thunderstorms erupted north and west of the Interstate 30 Corridor as a result. The atmosphere was moderately unstable for the last day in November but strong deep layer and low level directional shear were present. This resulted in supercell type thunderstorms and bowing thunderstorm complexes, one of which moved across Northeast Texas into Southeast Oklahoma and Southwest Arkansas producing widespread wind damage all along its track. Numerous trees and power lines were downed with these storms before they exited Northeast Texas during the early morning hours of December 1st.