The strong winds lifted tractor trailers, hurling them through the air. After the wave of storms subsided, damage spanned several counties near Dallas. NBC's Gabe Gutierrez reports.
By Miguel Llanos and Jim Gold, msnbc.com
Updated at 7:00 p.m. ET: At least two tornadoes touched down in areas south of Dallas on Tuesday, tossing tractor-trailers hundreds of feet into the air and causing widespread damage, especially in Lancaster and Arlington. No deaths were reported, but rescuers were still combing debris.
As the storm system moved northeast, it later spawned another tornado in Forney, a suburb just east of Dallas, where the fire station and several homes were hit and the high school saw roof damage, NBC News reported.
With the storms still moving through the region, many properties were damaged or destroyed and the Dallas Fort-Worth International Airport was hit by large hail, NBCDFW.com reported.
More than 225 outbound Dallas flights were canceled, NBCDFW reported. Travelers were taken to shelters as the storms passed. American Airlines canceled all its remaining flights Tuesday to inspect for hail damage.
One tornado hit the Flying J Truck Plaza in Dallas, tossing two trucks, said driver Michael Glennon, who caught the destruction on his video camera.
"The second trailer is ripped to pieces and thrown 50 to 100 feet into the air," Reuters quoted him as saying.
Dallas police tweeted early Tuesday evening that there were no serious injuries reported in the city and that extra officers would patrol areas hit heaviest by the storm. “Don't forget to hug your family when you get home,” they added
"This is a serious situation," the NBCDFW reported over the air at the height of the storms as meteorologists showed live footage of "debris balls" in Dallas, Ellis, Johnson and Tarrant counties, where officials were trying to get a tally of injuries and damage.
Severe weather specialist Dr. Greg Forbes explains why the slow-moving tornadoes dwelled over the Dallas region.
Live video showed a huge funnel cloud moving through a populated area as flashes of exploding power lines lit the sky. Vehicles were thrown across a major highway.
Large trucks were seen being flung through the air. "There's lots of 18-wheelers," said one NBC 5 reporter near Arlington. "I've never seen this before."
Arlington's mayor declared a state of emergency, and many homes there were destroyed or damaged, NBC 5's Mola Lenghi reported. A local nursing home was hit hard, with one person hospitalized.
In Lancaster, NBC 5 reporter Ken Kalthoff said, "there's tremendous damage here." More than 100 children and adults inside a daycare center appeared safe, but the building was heavily damaged, Kalthoff said.
Larry W. Smith / EPA
At least two tornadoes hit suburban communities in the Dallas area.
At least 300 structures were damaged, Mayor Marcus Knight told a news conference Tuesday evening, the Dallas Morning News reported. A curfew was put in place from 7 p.m. Tuesday until 9 a.m. Wednesday, he said. A shelter was opened at the city recreation center, but Knight advised residents to seek shelter outside the city if possible.
Images, video of the tornadoes from NBCDFW.com
No deaths were reported but an undetermined number of people were injured, Kalthoff said. Tornado sirens went off ahead of the touchdown.
"People have stumbled out of their houses surprised they survived," reported Kalthoff, who saw the funnel cloud about a mile away.
Lancaster High School and a large water tank barely avoided damage, he added.
Live video from NBCDFW showed a Lancaster subdivision along Pepperidge Drive East in which dozens of houses had been damaged or destroyed. Emergency crews were staging in a parking lot at Cedar Valley College to the east of the subdivision.
Lancaster resident Devlin Norwood was at home when he heard the storm sirens. He then made a quick trip to a nearby store when he saw the funnel-shaped tornado lower and kick up debris, the Associated Press reported.
"I didn't see any damage until I got back home. We had trees destroyed, fences down, boards down, boards penetrating the roof and the house, shingles damaged," said Norwood.
NBC
Damaged trucks and trailers are seen after a tornado pased through south Dallas on Tuesday.
Orange tractor-trailers filmed being flung in the air were from the operations yard for Schneider National. The Wisconsin-based trucking company said the yard saw "massive" damage, the company said in a statement obtained by msnbc.com.
Schools south of Dallas were locked down, NBC's Charles Hadlock reported, adding that one of the funnel clouds touched down in the town of Red Oak.
At least 40,000 customers lost power in the storms, which also dumped hail the size of golf balls across the area.
In Dallas County, the storm pushed cars into fences and toppled trees. A motor home was torn apart and crumpled in a driveway where a home's roof was torn off.
Mobile homes and businesses were destroyed or damaged in Kennedale and one person was hospitalized, the fire department said.
The massive Parks at Arlington mall along Interstate 20 shut down and management ordered shoppers and others into the basement, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.
Employees at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington were moved into the tunnels, the newspaper said.
At DFW Airport, American Airlines was having to inspect 68 planes for hail damage. Thirty-seven American flights were diverted and will stay in those cities overnight.
American Eagle Airlines, the world’s largest regional airline, diverted 11 flights, and 33 of its planes will be inspected.
A New Zealand member of Parliament, Jacinda Ardern, was among those at the Dallas Fort Worth airport when the tornado siren went off, the New Zealand Herald reported.
"It was really loud; it was a real roar,” said Arden, who was attending a leadership conference. “I was away from the windows but there were hailstones the size of golf balls coming down
A New Zealand member of Parliament, Jacinda Ardern, was among those at the Dallas Fort Worth airport when the tornado siren went off, the New Zealand Herald reported.
"It was really loud; it was a real roar,” said Arden, who was attending a leadership conference. “I was away from the windows but there were hailstones the size of golf balls coming down."
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
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