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- Several tornadoes were spotted across southeast Texas Thursday.
- Hundreds of flights were canceled or delayed at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
- There were no immediate reports of widespread damage.
Storms and tornadoes roared across parts of southeast Texas and Louisiana Thursday night into Friday morning, causing damage and disrupting holiday travel.
There were reports of damage at an RV park in Liberty County, northeast of Houston. Storms also downed trees and power lines in the region, according to reports tracked by NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center.
“The twisters in Texas were caused by a surge of warmer, moist air along the Gulf Coast ahead of a pair of storm systems coming through the jet stream over the South,” weather.com digital meteorologist Jonathan Belles said Friday morning.
Across the state line, a tree fell on a home in DeRidder, Louisiana. Reports said it caused significant damage to the structure.
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The threat of severe weather continues in the coming days for a wide swath from Texas into the Carolinas.
“The second system is poised to be more problematic this weekend as it slides from Texas to the Piedmont,” Belles said. “It may bring severe weather both days this weekend with similar conditions that spawned storms on Thursday night.”
Thursday’s weather threw a serious wrench into holiday travel.
More than 1,500 flights were canceled or delayed Thursday at Dallas-Fort Worth International, the third busiest and ninth most weather-delayed airport in the nation. The FAA issued ground stops throughout the day due to thunderstorms, backing up flights by 90 minutes or more.
Dozens of flights were also impacted at Dallas Love Field, with departure delays of one hour or more.
“Rain started Thursday morning in Dallas as a system moved through the region bringing strong winds and prompting a flash flood warning due to heavy rain,” weather.com digital meteorologist Sara Tonks said Thursday afternoon.
More than 600 flights were also delayed or canceled at Houston Bush Intercontinental.
It wasn’t the only day of travel woes, especially at DFW. More than 1,500 flights to or from the airport were canceled or delayed Tuesday through Wednesday according to online tracker FlightAware, the most at any airport in the U.S. on those days.
It all came as airport officials projected this year would be DFW’s busiest holiday season ever, with 4.7 million passengers expected between Dec. 20 and Jan. 7, a 2.4% increase over last year.
Weather.com staff writer Jan Childs covers breaking news and features related to weather, space, climate change, the environment and everything in between.