A powerful storm ripped through North Texas, pounding the area with soft-ball sized hail, heavy rain and lighting, and killing at least 15 people, including five members of one family whose car was swept away by a roaring creek. At least three people were still missing Saturday evening, as workers in Dallas and Fort Worth picked through the spotty wreckage of the Friday storm, which left many areas untouched. Damage from the storm was estimated at more than $350 million. While giant hailstones and heavy rains accounted for much of the damage, it was flash floods that caused 11 of the deaths. "It was bad. People here have said that in 20 years, they don't remember this bad of a water storm," said Carolyn Garcia, spokeswoman for Dallas' emergency preparedness operation..

A swollen creek, was the car driven by Jimmy Frazier, 52, off the road, He drowned along with his wife, Norma, 53, 10-year-old grandson Courtney Robertson, 2-year-old granddaughter Jade Frazier, and future daughter-in-law Sandy Donahue, 26. Only the Fraziers' son Mike, survived clinging to a tree as he helplessly watched his family and fiancée being swept away. "When I got to him, he was up in a tree. He was about 10 feet out from the bank, but the car had gone over into the creek," said 36-year-old Alan Lagarde, who lives across the street from Cedar Creek. Two women were crushed to death at a Haggar Clothing Co. distribution center north of downtown when the building's roof caved in. An elderly woman died in a fire believed to have been caused by lighting. A teen-ager died after being struck by lighting in suburban Irving. Police said three men drowned again when the water suddenly surged higher. The father of tow children used his pickup truck to pull a carload of trapped people out of a ditch - but then drowned when the truck skidded backward in the same ditch. The teenager who had just arrived at a birthday party - and was killed by a bold of lighting. The unyielding waters and stabs of lighting took men, women and children from all walks of life and all parts of town. It randomly took neighbors, co-workers and friends - and threatened but somehow spared many others. And it added up to one of the deadliest storms in North Texas history - a storm with brutal, sad stories. .... In the driving rain and smothering darkness, Billy "Mike" Frazier fought hard to guide his car -- and has 2-year-old daughter, parents, nephew and ex-girlfriend - north on Beckley Avenue. The raging waters of Oak Cliff's Cedar Creek were waiting. At a bridge crossing the creek, the flood stalled the car and then gripped it. With the six people still on board, the car was lifted up and tossed like a stick into the brackish, churning flood. In the raging storm, Mr. Frazier somehow found himself desperately clinging to a tree. But his daughter, his parents, his nephew and ex-girlfriend were taken by the water. They wouldn't survive. "It looked like Niagara Fall," said Alan Lagarde, a resident who witnessed the tragedy. "It just picked up the car and threw it into the creek. It happened like that." Mr. Frazier clung to the tree for an hour before being rescued by firefighters. Somewhere in the water below him were his parents, James "Jimmy" and Norma "Jean" Frazier, his 10-year-old nephew, Courtney Robinson, and his ex-girlfriend, Sandy Donahue, 25, a gospel recording artist whose stage name is Sandy Pettis. The child was their 2-year-old daughter, Jade Frazier. Relatives and witness said rescue efforts hampered because emergency crews did not respond quickly enough. Fire Department officials said Saturday, however, that they responded as well as they could and that the incident would be reviewed. Authorities recovered the victims Saturday. Relatives said the family was traveling to an Oak Cliff restaurant for dinner when the heavy rains and traffic congestion prompted them to get off Interstate 35E about 8:40p.m. "He (Mr. Frazier) said it was just so dark, and he couldn't see the floodwaters," said family friend Linda Searight. "The car stalled then the car flipped over the bridge and the doors flew open." Mr. Legarde and a neighbor ran to the creek to see if they could help and saw Mr. Frazier in a tree, "hanging on for dear life," Mr. Lagarde said. "But I couldn't get to to him," Mr Lagarde said. "We just told him everything would be OK. Help was on the way." "We had to come out and do our own search," said Debra Yaaseem, a relative of the Fraziers. "We called 911 repeatedly" but couldn't get through. Authorities began a search for the missing relatives about midnight, after Ms. Donahue's body washed onto a walkway inside the Dallas zoo. Jean Frazier, 53, homemaker was found dead inside the submerged car. Her husband, Jimmy, a 52-year-old plant company supervisor and quartet singer, was found beside the creek by searchers Saturday afternoon. Dallas police Sgt. A.L. Sutton found 10-year-old Courtney's body about 7:30 a.m. Saturday, "It's hard but you just have to do your job," Sgt. Sutton said. Relatives and friends said they were stunned by the deaths. "Everyone who knows the Fraziers is just devastated," Ms. Searight said. "It's still like it didn't happen. We're still trying to get to deal with the reality of this." Ms. Searight said the family was very close. "It was a joy for them to meet together," she said. "It was one of those family traditions that continued, although their own kids were grown." Jimmy Frazier was a gospel singer in the Dallas Quartet for more than 20 years. Ms. Donahue, who was living in Lonoke, Ark., was a singer in the DFW Mass Choir and was planning a return to Dallas. Courtney, a fifth-grader, was "a smart kid...very gifted," said Greta Shaw, the Fraziers' goddaughter. Jade lived with her mother. Mike Frazier, her father, kept telling his daughter Friday that he loved her. "She said, 'I love you too, Daddy," Ms. Shaw said. Relatives said Mike Frazier was in shock from the accident. "He knows that God intervened," Ms. Shaw said. "It's as though God put his arms around him."

Service recalls flood victims faith, spirit
By Sherry Jacobson

Mourners pack Saintville Church of God in Christ on Saturday to remember james and Norma "Jean" Frazier and their grandson Courtney Roberson. "These are people that preached and sang and then practiced what they preached and sang," said the Rev. W.V. Grant of Eagles Nest Family Church.

They were part of a family that loved gospel music and the Lord, so it was fitting that their funeral Saturday was a rousing mixture of song and prayer. The 2,000 mourners who packed the Saintsville Church of God in Christ in east Oak Cliff on Saturday gave an uplifting tribute to James and Norma "Jean" Frazier and their grandson, Courtney Roberson. Another granddaughter, Jade Frazier, 2, and her mother, Sandy Donahue, 25, also were killed when the family car was swept into a flooding creek. Their funeral was set fro Sunday in Lonoke, Ark. The family members died in the May 5 storm that claimed at least 18 lives in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The 31/2-hour service was punctuated by tears, but there also was a conscious effort by surviving family members and friends not to allow the gathering to become gloomy. "Brother Frazier told me that, 'At my funeral, I want some hand-clapping and some foot-stomping. I want somebody to be saved,'" said the Rev. Robert Nichols, a close family friend and associate minister of Church Holy Temple Cathedral in Dallas. A dozen soloists and gospel groups flooded the church with music that seemed capable of raising the roof. For 32 years, James Frazier was lead singer and manager of the gospel group Echoes of Harmony, which he helped found. The group announced during the service that it would continue on, despite the loss of its leader and his wife, who also was a singer. It performed Mr. Frazier's favorite song, Going Home Another Way. Singer Carnell Murrell told how Mr. Frazier, who was well-known in gospel circles, offered him encouragement when Mr. Murrell cut his first record for national release. "He told me, 'You can make it,'" he recalled. "I have many fond memories of the Fraziers." Mr. Frazier, 52, who had worked Sherwin Williams Paint Co. for 25 years, also was remembered for his dedication to his church, the Gailee Church of God in Church, where he served on the deacon board and as Sunday school superintendent. The church was too small to hold the expected turnout for the Fraziers' funeral. "These are people that preached and sang and then practiced what they preached and sang," said the Rev. W.V. Grant, pastor of Eagles Nest Family Church. Mrs. Frazier, 53, was remembered as a loving as a loving mother, a dotting grandmother and a woman who spoke her mind. Church elder Raymond Allen said that sometimes, after a rousing performance by Echoes of Harmony, he would ask Mrs. Frazier how the group had done. "She'd say, 'Let's me tell you something. You all really did nothing,'" said Mr. Allen, a longtime family friend who is associate minister of Gailee Church. Courtney Roberson, who was 11, was remembered as being a fun-loving kid who enjoyed school and playing sports. His fifth-grade classmates at Charles A. Gill Elementary School were having a tough time this week handling his death, said Betty Robertson, his homeroom teacher. "Then one of the boys put a little note on his chair that said, 'I miss you.' The kids decided that on one would sit there for the rest of the school year," she said. "It made them feel better."