Overnight storms cause some flooding, lightning fires
LAVON, Texas - Strong rain and thunderstorms overnight caused more flooding in North Texas, including at a church in Collin County.
The band of storms that rolled through the area late Wednesday and early Thursday brought mostly on and off rain and a lot of lightning. There weren’t any reports of damaging hail or winds.
In Collin County, water seeped into some homes, businesses, and even a church.
All the rain did cause more problems for the First Baptist Church Lavon. Members of the church in Lavon were still cleaning up flood damage from last week when the building started flooding again.
Pastor Brad Patterson said he through they were prepared this time around. He and other members put tarps and sandbags out to try to stop the water from flooding their building. But several inches of water still got inside.
“You can still see water coming all the way up. I mean, 10 feet down this hallway and in this room as well,” the pastor said. "No matter what we did, water was still coming through. It felt like a lost cause."
Patterson said at one point the water was up to his calves in the parking lot. An estimated 5 inches of rain fell in the area in just a short amount of time.
Members worked overnight to pump the water out of the church. They now have fans in place trying to dry things out.
"We had 10-15 guys here 'til after 1 o'clock, helping to make sure things were staying dry and if more storms were coming through," Patterson added.
Volunteers from other churches also came to help.
"That’s what small town churches do, they help one another," volunetter Mike Kitts said. "I think if we had a flooding problem, somebody from this church would come over there."
In Wyllie, David Shaw is not taking any more chances. He’s putting down 40 top soil bags wrapped in plastic around his house. Shaw says his home on Dogwood Court flooded with 3-6 inches of rain last week too.
"I installed a moat, this is a 3400 gallon per hour pump," Shaw said. "My room, my closet, my bathroom, my hall bathroom, my office, my laundry room, my garage [all flooded]."
Neighbors had to come with buckets.
"They were paling water out the windows and out the front door, at least ten of us. If it wasn’t for that, my whole house would’ve been done for," Shaw added.
He and others are just hoping their latest preparations are enough to hold off any more rain in the forecast.
"I’m about to board up my garage, I’ve duct taped my office doors. It’s scary," he said.
City officials in Lavon and Wylie say they’ve gotten an uncharacteristically large amount of rain in the last few weeks, but they are investigating these flooding issues to see if there is anything possible they can do to help.
Lightning was another big problem with the overnight storms. The fire chief not far away in Murphy thinks lightning may have caused four fires in the city.
The fire at one home near Betsy Lane and Murphy Road started in the attic. It was quickly put out and there were no injuries.
And although there were no tornadoes reported in the Metroplex, the overnight storms did produce tornadoes to the north and west.
FOX 4 storm chaser Nick Busby captured video of one near Seymour, southwest of Wichita Falls.
The National Weather Service will investigate just as it did for two confirmed tornadoes in Denton County Tuesday night.
One was near the Texas Woman’s University campus in Denton and the other was 15 miles to the southeast in Justin. Both were EF1 tornadoes.