North Texans take preparations for hail threat Wednesday

DALLAS - With the threat of large hail in North Texas on Wednesday, some many residents and businesses are taking precautions to minimize potential damage.

Southwest Airlines announced Wednesday afternoon it is cancelling about 100 flights at Dallas Love Field between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. That includes both arrivals and departures.

American Airlines is operating more of a regular schedule at DFW Airport on Wednesday. There will be no arrivals after 9 p.m. at DFW Airport for American and only two departures. For its regional flights, no arrivals after 8 p.m. and no departures after 9 p.m.

American also said it would limit how many of its aircraft would remain overnight at DFW and try to store as many aircraft as possible in hangar space.

Parts of Cottonwood Creek Church in Allen are just now starting to dry out weeks after a late March hailstorm. The storm caused plenty of damage to cars and buildings in parts of Frisco, McKinney and Allen. Pastor Caleb Beets said crews will start putting a new roof on soon. Until then, the church's temporary roof is vulnerable to storms.

“It's definitely just temporary, and it's to help us against water,” he said. “And even that, we still have leaks. And so hearing about the potential storm for tomorrow that is not prepared to handle any kind of hail at all.”

With another more serious hail threat on Wednesday, car dealerships across North Texas have started to do what they can to shield cars from damage. Frank Kent Cadillac in Fort Worth spent the day Tuesday moving 400 cars to spots under hail tents.

“We've been through this before,” said Will Churchill with the car dealership. “We kind of call it the 'hail dance.’”

The dealership is also moving customer cars into its showroom. While they don't know where the hail will hit, they do know they have enough time to try to get out of its path.

“They're expecting it to be one of the more severe storms,” Churchill said. “So that's why we're taking the time on our side over the next 24 to 36 hours to get prepared for it.”

At Cottonwood, there's little that can be done to prepare. The pastor just hopes his church won't have to deal with a storm like the last all over again.

“We'll just pray that another storm doesn't hit us like this last one did,” Beets said.

More than 4,000 girls from 152 different soccer teams across the country and around the world are scheduled to play in Dallas International Girls Cup on Wednesday in Farmers Branch. It’s also a chance for them to show off their talents and impress college scouts.

On the tournament website, organizers acknowledged the severe weather threat and said the plan is to play as many games as possible until the weather arrives. Any games that are canceled because of the weather will be rescheduled for Saturday.