Wind damaged buildings and pulled trees out of the ground during a brief but vicious thunderstorm that knocked out power to businesses and homes in our neighborhood Sunday afternoon.

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The storm, which blew in around 3 p.m., was fast and weird, bringing winds of up to 60 miles per hour, pea-sized hail and sheets of heavy rain. Winds of up to 60 miles per hour caused extensive damage, demolishing a townhome that was under construction in Old East Dallas. Exterior bricks fell off of buildings onto cars in the Bishop Arts District and at the Royal Lane Condominiums.

More than 110,0000 residences lost power at the peak of the storm, KXAS reports, and by Sunday night about 28,000 were without power in our city. About 9,200 homes in Dallas County were still without electricity by about 10 p.m. Monday, according to Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins on Twitter.

The outage also left hundreds of traffic signals dark or flashing red and trees blocking roads.

Besides wind damage, heavy rain caused flooding in Old East Dallas and Uptown, neighborhoods that flooded in a rainstorm two weeks ago.

Act of kindness 

Robb Garner was packing up his booth at Underground Market on Lower Greenville when the storm started.

Garner, who operates a sterling silver jewelry company called Hard Silver Jewelry, was struggling to pack safely and get out of the weather, he says.

But staff members at nearby Hide cocktail bar came to the rescue. They ran outside to help Garner and other vendors, and they offered them a place to shelter inside the building.

“We were soaking wet and made a mess of the floor by the host stand, but your staff was only concerned with our safety,” Garner says in a letter to Hide. “I can’t think you enough and your kind and courageous staff for what you did Sunday.”