TX Storm Tears Roof off Historic Building

Jul. 13—A sudden storm Monday afternoon swept through Fort Worth and tore sheets of metal off the roof of a 113-year-old building in the Fort Worth Stockyards.

Sheets of metal from the building at 2350 N. Main St. roof crashed onto two cars, according to the Fort Worth Fire Department. With the high wind, some pieces made it across the street into a parking lot.

No injuries were reported.

One woman whose car was damaged stood across the street on the sidewalk as firefighters backed the SUV out front under the metal sheets at about 6:05 p.m. She said she was at work when the storm rolled through, and her boss asked where she parked her car and that she might want to check it.

A sign outside the two-story building with roof damage says it's the Law Offices of Frederick W. Nessler and Associates. The building was constructed around 1908, according to fortwortharchitecture.com.

The storm moved through the area about 5 p.m., with a severe thunderstorm warning for Tarrant County that expired at 5:30.

Fire department spokesman Mike Drivdahl said the city had reports of a lot of power lines down, and another awning fell down the street from where the roof was damaged. The department cut the power to other lines to safely assess the damage.

Hoot Scott was working at the Cross-Eyed Moose antique store at 2342 N. Main St. when the storm came through.

"I'm native born Texan," Scott said. "I'm used to these storms rolling in here."

He said when firefighters climbed up on the building, they said it looked like the storm took about half the roof off.

Business had slowed down in the Stockyards after being busy in the morning, and no one was walking on the sidewalks or driving down the road at the time the damage occurred, Scott said.

"We couldn't believe our old porch here was fine," he said. "That was a godsend."

Around the corner at the Cowtown Coliseum, puddles of water remained on the concrete floors after the building flooded during the storm. The building, which hosts weekly rodeos, closed to the public after the storm due to the water damage.

A flood advisory was issued in central Tarrant County including North Fort Worth and Haltom City on Monday afternoon until 6 p.m. Haltom City police tweeted the department pulled one car from high water at about 5 p.m.

Fort Worth residents also reported some small hail.

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