Commercial Roofing Contractors in Lowry Crossing, TX

A report from the NWS Fort Worth TX on Wednesday at 2:45 a.m. is warning residents of strong thunderstorms. The storms may bring wind gusts of up to 40 mph and marble-sized hail (0.5 inches).

"At 2:45 a.m., Doppler radar tracked a strong thunderstorm near Princeton, or 11 miles east of McKinney, moving southeast at 35 mph," says the NWS. "Gusty winds could knock down tree limbs and blow around unsecured objects. Minor damage to outdoor objects is possible."

The warning is for McKinney, Wylie, Royse City, Princeton, Melissa, Farmersville, Lowry Crossing, Lavon, Blue Ridge, Nevada, Josephine, New Hope, Westminster, Altoga, Copeville, Frognot and Lavon Lake. This includes Interstate 30 near mile marker 79.

According to the NWS, "If outdoors, consider seeking shelter inside a building."

This warning is in effect until 3:15 a.m.

Lightning hits the United States approximately 25 million times annually. The majority of these strikes happen during the summer, causing around 20 fatalities each year, according to the National Weather Service. The likelihood of lightning increases as a thunderstorm gets closer and reaches its highest point when the storm is directly overhead. This risk decreases as the storm moves away.

Here are tips on how to stay safe during a thunderstorm:

• To minimize risk of being struck by lightning, when going outside, have a plan to get to a safer place.

• If the sky becomes menacing and thunder becomes audible, seek out a safe place to seek shelter.

• Once inside, abstain from touching corded phones, electrical devices, plumbing, and windows and doors.

• Wait for 30 minutes after the most recent lightning or thunder before venturing outside.

If finding indoor shelter is not an option:

• Steer clear of open fields, hilltops, or ridge tops.

• Stay away from tall, isolated trees or other tall objects. If you are in a forest, stay near a lower stand of trees.

• If you are in a group, spread out to avoid the current traveling between group members.

• If you are camping in an open area, set up camp in a valley, ravine, or other low area. Remember, a tent offers no protection from lighting.

• Stay away from water, wet items, and metal objects. Water and metal do not attract lightning but they are excellent conductors of electricity.

• Turn on your headlights — Even when it's light outside, using headlights can improve visibility and alert other drivers to your presence.

• While driving — Stick to the middle lanes and stay on elevated ground. Rainwater tends to accumulate at the road edges.

• Avoid puddles — Driving into puddles or low rainwater areas can lead to vehicles hydroplaning or losing control.

• Don't tail large vehicles closely — Trucks or buses can kick up a water spray that obstructs visibility.

• Avoid flooded zones — If you encounter a flooded road, make a U-turn and go back. The powerful currents of flash floods can carry drivers off the road. Driving through deep water can also damage a vehicle's mechanical and electrical systems.

What is hydroplaning?

Hydroplaning is when a vehicle starts uncontrollably sliding on wet roads.

This happens when water in front of the tire builds up faster than the vehicle’s weight can push water out of the way. The water pressure then causes the vehicle to rise and slide on a thin layer of water between the tires and the road, making the driver lose control. The top three contributors to hydroplaning are:

1. Vehicle speed — When a vehicle’s speed increases, the tire-traction grip and ability to control the vehicle decreases. Drive at a reduced speed during wet weather.

2. Water depth — The deeper the water, the sooner a vehicle loses traction on the road. It doesn’t matter how deep the water is, even a thin layer can lead to hydroplaning.

3. Tire tread depth — Checking your tire tread before hitting the road is important, as low or no tread can lead to sliding.

In the event of your vehicle hydroplaning, here’s what to know:

• Ease off the accelerator — Step off the gas to slow down the vehicle until the tires find traction.

• Turn into the skid — Turning into the skid can help the vehicle’s tires realign to regain control.

• Make sure the tires reconnect with the road — During the skid, wait until the tires reconnect with the road and then gently straighten the wheels to regain control.

• Brake gently as needed — Brake normally if the vehicle has anti-lock brakes and pump brakes gently if in an older vehicle.

Source: The National Weather Service

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A church, home and restaurant were destroyed after two fires last night in McKinney, Texas. There have not been any reports of injuries, and an investigation is underway into the origin of both fires.

Just after midnight on October 24, the McKinney Fire Department responded to a report of a fire on North McDonald Street. NBCDFW said that firefighters first began attempting to extinguish the fire at a church on Wilcox, but did not release the name at the time. Several surrounding houses were evacuated before the fire spread to a nearby home.

“We appreciate the assistance from Allen, Fairview and Plano, Anna, Lowry Crossing and Westminster,” a McKinney Fire Department tweet read.

McKinney Fire Department Public Information Officer and Education Coordinator Merit Ossian confirmed to Local Profile that the church was New Outreach Church of God in Christ at 506 Wilcox Street.

That same night, another fire broke out at a nearby Chicken Express at 411 S. McDonald Street. According to the McKinney Fire Department, as of 3:22 a.m., firefighters were working a big fire near the downtown area. During that time it was also confirmed that the church on Wilcox had been destroyed.

At 6:34 a.m., McKinney firefighters remained on the scene. As of writing, they are currently working to determine what started the fire and where the fire started. They also released that no one was harmed during the fire, and residents were evacuated in a timely matter.

“This was a very intense fire that took a huge number of resources and hours of hard work to extinguish,” said McKinney Fire Chief Danny Kistner in a press release. “As always, the most important thing is the safety of the residents and our firefighters.”

Ossian told Local Profile that the fires are no longer active, but the fire department is still at both locations. Firefighters will continue to search for hot spots that could cause the fire to ignite again.

It was confirmed that the investigation is still ongoing, and the only damages that occurred were to the church, home and restaurant. McKinney Fire Department will also examine whether the fires are connected.

If Mount Vernon voters approve either of two alcohol-sales ballot initiatives on May 11 - and voters in the Piney Woods town of Tatum do the same - that would leave Delta County the last dry county in East Texas.

When Northeast Texas voters go to the polls on Saturday, citizens in four communities will be casting their lots for or against measures that would allow, in some fashion, alcohol sales where such sales are not currently legal.

The cities of Campbell, Josephine, Lowry Crossing and Mount Vernon all have alcohol-related items on municipal ballots in the May 11 elections.

Dry counties dropping off East Texas map?

The Mount Vernon ballot has two proposals - one to allow beer and wine sales for off-premise consumption and one to allow the sale of mixed beverages at restaurants.

If either of those pass, that would make Franklin County, of which Mount Vernon is the county seat, a "partially wet" county, like all but three counties in East Texas.

Among counties in East Texas, only Delta, Franklin and Panola counties remain dry. The rest have mixed, or "partially wet" regulations regarding the public sale of alcoholic beverages.

Deep in "The Woods," the small city of Tatum, which straddles the Rusk-Panola County line, will vote on May 11 on whether to allow the sale of beer and wine for off-premise consumption.

If both voters in both Panola and Franklin counties decide to allow alcohol sales, that would leave Delta the lone county west of Interstate 35 with dry status. Of the 256 counties in Texas, only 19 remain dry. Of those 19, all but the aformentioned three are in West Texas.

Campbell, Josephine, Lowry Crossing also deciding

The ballot initiatives in Campbell, Lowry Crossing and Josephine won't change the wet/dry status of Hunt and Collin counties, where public alcohol sales are legal, but they would obviously impact the towns in question.

The measures in Campbell and Lowry Crossing would allow sales of all alcoholic beverages for off-premise consumption. Josephine's proposition would allow the sales of beer and wine for off-premise consumption.

Campbell is in Hunt County, while Lowry Crossing is in Collin County. Josephine is mostly in Collin County, but extends over the Hunt County line.

Janay Tieken remembers when McKinney was still following the traditional path to public transit.

Under a previous partnership, the city’s streets used to be a part of a fixed bus route network.

But the issue of low ridership, added to McKinney’s more expansive geography, meant the service was financially unfeasible, said Tieken, the city’s housing and community development director.

Since then, the city has switched to an on-demand model that aims to help the elderly, those with disabilities and those with low income get to doctor’s visits or grocery stores. Now, a recent change to the system is aiming to make that program even more expansive.

In January, DART became the Collin County Transit program provider. The transition is a switch from when the Denton County Transportation Authority was providing a taxi voucher program to the McKinney Urban Transit District, which includes Celina, Prosper, Lowry Crossing, Melissa and Princeton.

The agreement with DCTA expired on Dec. 31, and the city of McKinney, on behalf of the district, put out a request for presentations. Around that time, the DCTA and Dallas Area Rapid Transit were expected to provide a joint proposal, Tieken said.

“But DCTA decided for a number of reasons that they didn’t have the bandwidth and were not going to be part of the joint proposal,” Tieken said. “So DART graciously and very luckily pivoted and was able to be the lead and provide the pieces that DCTA was going to provide.”

Ryan McCutchan, program manager with DART, said the shift will bring changes for riders that aim to expand services and make the fare system more concise.

For one, he said, DART is providing expanded service hours under the new program: weekdays, the program will run from 6 a.m. through 8 p.m. In addition, the program expanded weekend services to include Sundays from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. (The service runs at the same times for Saturday).

Previously, services ended at 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and the program did not run on Sundays. That change comes as DART saw a high demand of requests who may want to go to church on Sunday, McCutchan said.

In addition, the program will include a mix of “dedicated” vehicles that are used by DART as well as “non-dedicated” vehicles through Lyft services.

“The Lyft fleet, we feel, will be very dynamic and be able to help the program grow as more prospective riders join the Collin County Transit program,” McCutchan said.

In March, McCutchan said DART was currently testing the Lyft component, with hopes to add it to operations in mid-April.

Changes also include making the fare system more simplistic: members who need rides within the McKinney Urban Transit District will pay a flat $3 fee for a one-way trip, while a trip to anywhere else in Collin County is a $5 flat fee for a one-way trip.

Previously, the fare system was dependent on how long someone’s trip was.

“So every time somebody booked a trip, they might have a little bit different fare,” McCutchan said. “But with this new program, with there only being two fares, we really wanted to make a really clear and concise way of paying for the system under the two-fare system.”

The program eligibility still includes seniors, riders with disabilities and low-income riders, making the service a targeted effort to help people who meet those eligibility requirements. McCutchan said DART’s plans included specific marketing in order to grow the transit program for those riders.

In January, McCutchan said there was a good amount of demand for such a program. By Jan. 28, the program had already provided 865 rides, with about 32 riders per day. Trips averaged about 18 minutes and 6.6 miles, he said.

“I think we will continue to see ridership go up as we add new eligible riders to the system,” he said at the time.

By early March, ridership had totaled to 2,335. Average daily ridership was 35, and average travel duration was 19 minutes. The average travel distance was seven miles.

Today’s on-demand services in the MUTD is a long way down the road from where the city was a few years ago, when fixed-route buses were still traversing McKinney’s streets.

“Rather than running empty buses around the city all day, this has been a much better and more focused approach to providing transit services,” Tieken said.

Of course, it’s not as visible, she added, and a lot of folks will probably be inclined to say “We don’t have transit in McKinney.”

“Yes, we do,” she said.

UPDATE 10-25-22 4:02AM

McKinney (WBAP/KLIF) – Residents of McKinney’s historic Wilcox neighborhood are stunned by an early Monday fire that destroyed 3 structures.

Fire investigators are still looking into the cause of the blaze that torched the New Outreach Church of God in Christ, a Chicken Express and a house where an adult and three children escaped unharmed.

Residents in the area call the fire at the church “devastating.”

On the church’s Facebook page, a post reads:

Father GOD we are seeking YOU for direction during the loss of our church. Bless us to come together stronger!

The church is seeking donations:

The McKinney Fire Department (MFD) responded to a call for a structure fire just after midnight Monday. Fire crews arrived to find fire at the rear of the New Outreach Church of God in Christ (506 Wilcox St.).

A resident was safely evacuated from a residential structure that also caught fire. As a precaution, nearby homes were evacuated.

As firefighters attacked the flames, another fire was reported a short distance away at Chicken Express (411 S. McDonald St.) All three structures were destroyed.

Fire investigators are on the scene to determine where and how the fire started – and whether the two fire scenes are connected. ATF has been called in to assist with the investigation.

Additional photos and video can be found here.

“This was a very intense fire that took a huge number of resources and hours of hard work to extinguish,” said McKinney Fire Chief Danny Kistner. “As always, the most important thing is the safety of the residents and our firefighters.”

We are grateful for assistance from: Anna, Melissa, Plano, Fairview, Princeton, Frisco, Lowry Crossing, Weston and Allen.

—

Original post: 10-24-22

McKinney, TX (WBAP/KLIF) – McKinney firefighters, with the assistance of several neighboring fire departments spent 5 hours overnight battling a blaze in the downtown area that torched 3 structures.

The fire broke out around midnight, a destroyed a church on Wilcox, as well as a home and a chicken express restaurant on North McDonald. Crews remain on the scene putting out hot spots.

There’s no word on any injuries. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

(Copyright 2022 WBAP/KLIF 24/7 News.)