Tornadoes touched down in the Dallas-Fort Worthmetropolitan area on Tuesday, tossing tractor trailer trucks into the air and grounding all planes in the area.
All planes were grounded at Dallas-Fort Worth International airport because of reports of storms and tornadoes, American Airlines spokesman Tim Smith said.
Dallas-Fort Worth airport spokesman David Magana said officials were trying to protect passengers from glass windows by moving them into stairwells and restrooms.
"We are sheltering passengers at the moment," said David Magana, a spokesman forDFW International Airport.
WFAA television in Dallas said a violent tornado swept across southern Dallas County on Tuesday, damaging homes and downing trees in its path.
CNN showed video from Dallas County showing a residential neighborhood where many homes had sustained serious structural damage, some missing their roofs or second stories missing, some reduced to rubble.
The twister touched down about 1 p.m. (2 p.m. EDT), about 20 miles south of Dallasnear Lancaster and moved east. As that tornado moved across Dallas County, another tornado developed in Mansfield, just south of Arlington in Tarrant County.
There were no immediate reports of injuries.
The reports of tornadoes followed a "tornado emergency" declared by the National Weather Service for the Dallas-Fort Worth area of Texas on Tuesday.
"Two tornadoes are currently affecting the DFW metroplex. Take cover now!" said a warning on the National Weather Service website. -
SOURCE Reuters
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