A stormy late afternoon and early evening Monday as a weak cold frontal passage produced a strong line of thunderstorm activity as gusty winds, brief heavy downpours and thunder and dangerous cloud to ground lightning accompanied the line of activity. The National Weather Service issued a significant weather advisory before 5 p.m. for Shelby County, along with Sabine and DeSoto Parishes. Thunderstorms were tracking to the southeast at 30 mph with wind potentials of 40 to 60 mph. The weather service issued three severe thunderstorm warnings which included Shelby County, the first just before 5 p.m., the second around 5:30 p.m. which also included eastern San Augustine and Sabine County, and the third at 6:15 p.m. as storm activity continued to track southward. Although rain was area wide, the heavier storms and larger amounts of rain were along the eastern half of Shelby County and adjoining areas of northwest Louisiana. The National Weather Service reported trees down around Shelby County, with the Joaquin area and points southward seeing more reported damage. The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office had a report of a tree down on Hwy. 84 at FM 3343 (Willow Grove Road), which was removed by the Joaquin VFD, as well as Patroon, and Lout Town areas. 

Deep East Texas Electric reports at 5:30 yesterday, they had 400 to 500 meters out due to the line of storms. The Co-op’s Brittney Johnson tells us the hardest hit area was Huxley, where during the peak of the storm, approximately 200 outages were reported. By 8 p.m. last night, she said around 250 members were without power within Nacogdoches, Shelby and Sabine Counties, and crews worked throughout the night to restore electricity.