Updated | 10:21 p.m. At least two huge tornadoes churned through the densely populated Dallas-Fort Worth area on Tuesday afternoon, leveling homes, snapping power lines and hurling tractor-trailers into the air. Twelve tornadoes in all whipped through the area.
The National Weather Service described the storms as “large and extremely dangerous.” Warnings were issued from early afternoon into the evening across the region, which is the fourth largest metropolitan area in the country and is home to more than 6.3 million people.
At least a dozen people were injured, the authorities said.
Local television stations broadcast live video of a tornado that tossed 53-foot-long tractor-trailers weighing 14,000 pounds into the air like toys at the Schneider National Trucking yard on Lyndon B. Johnson Freeway as well as at a Flying A Truck stop.
The most severe damage was reported in Arlington and Cleburne, south of Fort Worth, and in Lancaster, just south of Dallas. Other areas badly hit, officials said, included neighborhoods in Kennedale, which is also south of Fort Worth, and Forney, east of Dallas.
In Lancaster more than 300 structures were damaged, city officials said.
In Arlington, a city of about 350,000 people, and home of the Dallas Cowboys and Texas Rangers, Mayor Robert Cluck issued a state of disaster declaration. Most of the damage was in south Arlington. There was also reports of damage to a nursing home, prompting the relocation of about 100 residents.
At the Rangers ballpark, players were preparing for an exhibition game Tuesday night against the Mexico City Diablos Rojos when the sky darkened and the wind whipped up. From the dugout, Michael Napoli, the team’s catcher, used his cellphone to film the approaching rotating clouds
A motorist captured this video of a tornado on Route 287 in Arlington, Texas.
Video: #Tornado – Arlington #TX #Dallas #Severe #Storm.
Cleanup efforts have already began in Texas immediately after tornadoes ripped through the Dallas-Fort Worth area, tossing tractor-trailers like toys, forcing airlines to cancel flights and causing widespread damage.
There is a lot of damage, injuries, but no deaths… so there is a lot to be grateful for.
h/t to: JENNIFER PRESTON and thanks to local citizens for the photos and the video(s).
askmarion 