The National Weather Services announced on December 12 that severe weather conditions were expected this week and a tornado watch was in effect until 11:00 a.m. on Tuesday. On December 13, a tornado hit North Texas and caused the cancelation of several flights and many school districts lost power and had to release students early due to the extreme weather. In Grapevine, one school had to evacuate students due to roof damage.
Schools all across North Texas stayed on high alert throughout this morning monitoring the severe weather. Around 9:00 a.m. Grapevine-Colleyville ISD announced that all campuses were sheltering children on-site. Only one hour later, the district reported that Grapevine Middle School, Dove, Silver Lake and Cannon Elementary Schools all lost power due to the storm and Emergency Management teams in both cities were in contact with staff.
At around 10:00 a.m., Grapevine Middle School staff reported natural gas odor near the exterior of the school in the athletic wing which prompted staff to turn off the was and move children away from the site while Grapevine Fire Department responded to the campus.
However, roof damage and water leaks at the school forced the school to evacuate all students to First United Methodist Church with the help of the fire and police departments. arents are able to pick up students at the church but an ID will be required by staff.
While some schools like Silver Lake Elementary regained power shortly after the storm passed and is resuming school day as usual, many other schools in the district had to release students early due to damage or power outages. Blue Ridge, Cannon and Dove Elementary Schools released students at noon, although kids whose guardians weren’t able to pick them up stayed at school to take the bus.
In case you missed it, here's Local Profile's report on a plane crash in Carrollton.
