Severe Texas Storms Knock Out Power, Close Polling Places During Elections

Damage at a truck stop the morning after a tornado rolled through in Valley View, Texas, on May 26, 2024. Julio Cortez/AP Photo

DALLAS—A round of severe storms pummeled Texas early Tuesday, leaving more than 600,000 utility customers without power and forcing more than 100 polling places to close as voters head to the polls to decide several key runoff elections.

“Due to ongoing severe weather, many of our Vote Centers are experiencing power outages. We encourage voters to use our Vote Center Finder ... to find their nearest open location. Your safety is our priority, so please travel safely. #DallasCountyVotes,” wrote Dallas County Elections on social media Tuesday morning shortly after the polls opened at 7 a.m.

Earlier in the morning, many people in the Dallas-Fort Worth region were woken by the howl of tornado sirens or the scream of an emergency alert on their cell phones with a tornado warning and directions to immediately seek shelter.

“DFW Airport reported 77 mph gusts at 5:47am. Take shelter NOW if you’re in the warning area,” the National Weather Service wrote on X at 5:52 a.m.

Several alerts throughout the morning followed, including warnings that the “destructive storm” could contain up to baseball-sized hail in some parts of the region and flash flooding in many areas.

Straight-line winds ripped down trees and knocked out power lines, causing outages for more than 625,000 people across North Texas, according to Oncor energy provider’s power outage map on Tuesday afternoon. Of those impacted, more than 345,000 outages were in Dallas County.

The tornado warning came just days after multiple devastating tornadoes ripped through North Texas on Saturday night, leaving seven people dead, including four children.

Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins said during a press conference Tuesday that despite numerous Vote Center closures across the county, voters still have an opportunity to vote in other precincts.

In Dallas County, as well as in Collin, Denton, and Tarrant counties, there is countywide voting, which allows voters to utilize polling places outside their precinct.

“We have what’s called countywide voting, so what that means is if your polling place at a school down the street from your house doesn’t work, you can go somewhere else to vote,” he told reporters. “In Dallas County, we have, we currently have 103 [polling] locations that are without power, but we have 180 [polling locations] that still have power.”

Outages Could Last for Days

Officials said the outages are expected to last for days, prompting Judge Jenkins to issue a disaster declaration.

“As the current estimate is that this will be a multi-day power outage for a significant number of @Oncor customers, I have instructed the civil @Dallas_DA to prepare a declaration of disaster for my signature,” he said in a post on X.

Lewis Jenkins of the Dallas County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management assured utility customers that the outages were not caused by a problem with the power grid.

“This is not a generation problem like we sometimes have when it’s cold or in the heat of the summer,” Mr. Lewis Jenkins told reporters during Tuesday’s press conference. “This is a broken lines problem brought by the straight-line winds.”

He said workers are responding to the outages, but they could face challenges as they work to restore power across the region. More storms with rain and high winds are expected to roll in as early as Tuesday night.

“The damage itself is not unusual,” Mr. Lewis Jenkins said. “The extent of the damage and the number of customers affected is unusual.”