County works to assist, assess damage after North Texas storms
One person died and ten people were sent to local hospitals Monday night when storms tore through western Grayson County in the Gordonville and Sherwood Shores area. Sherman Independent School District has also reported damage to its Sherman High School facility.
Grayson County Judge Bill Magers said a 73-year-old woman is confirmed to have died in the storm. He did not release her name.
The National Weather Service will be surveying the area in the days to come to see if the storm was an actual tornado or not.
"There were approximately 40-60 structures damaged," Magers told those at Tuesday's commissioners court meeting. He said that damage ranged from minor to complete destruction of the structure.
"The bottom line it is that it was a very unusual storm," Magers said indicating he had been told that the storm completely destroyed some structures in a particular area and left others practically unscathed.
Grayson County Sheriff Tom Watt did not address commissioners about the storm, but after the meeting, he said he was very proud of the way the local volunteer fire departments and other agencies responded to the calls for help.
County Commissioner Bart Lawrence said he had never seen anything like it. He cautioned people who do not live in the areas that were hit by the storm to refrain from going there to look at the damage for themselves because they might block access for those who live there or who need to be there to help with the assessment and clean up.
"There are people there that are devastated," Lawrence said before asking people to pray for those affected by the storm.
"The Grayson County OEM Facebook page has a link to the Texas Department of Emergency Management to self report any damage to your property," Magers said. The state has also deployed the Texas Department of Emergency Management Task Force to the area to help with search and rescue as well as damage assessments.
Magers thanked Grayson County Office of Emergency Management Director Sarah Somers and her team, along with the GC Sheriff's Office personnel who were on the ground Monday night trying to help people deal with the aftermath of the storm.
The GCOEM Facebook page also said that First Baptist Church in Whitesboro is acting as a shelter for those in the Sherwood Shores area that were displaced by the storm.
This article originally appeared on Herald Democrat: 1 dead, 10 injured following Monday storms in North Texas
