FORT WORTH — Three rounds of storms swept through North Texas on Tuesday night, producing rain, hail, high wind and unconfirmed reports of tornadoes.
"This is one of the biggest storm systems to hit the area since 2007," said Mark Fox, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Fort Worth.
The storm was caused by "a large upper low moving into the area and a dry line, allowing the storm to fire," he said.
Storm sirens prompted people to head for cover in Tarrant, Parker and Denton counties and elsewhere in North Texas.
"We don't know the extent of the damage. We're just trying to keep people safe right now," Juan Ortiz, emergency management coordinator for Fort Worth and Tarrant County, said about 8 p.m.
An Oncor spokeswoman said power was knocked out to tens of thousands of customers.
"The outages followed the path of the storm," Ashley Burton said. "Our crews are working as quickly and safety as possible to restore power."
At least one tornado reportedly touched down in the Azle area.
"We heard reports of rain-wrapped tornadoes, meaning the heavy rain masks the tornado," Parker County Sheriff Larry Fowler said. "You don't know it's there till it whacks you."
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