Powerful tornadoes strike Texas

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More than a dozen injuries ranging from minor to severe have been reported after tornadoes and violent storms raked through the Dallas area.

Officer Paul Beck in the Dallas suburb of Lancaster says 10 people were injured when a reported tornado touched down there on Tuesday. He says two of those injuries are severe but did not have further details.

Assistant Arlington fire chief Jim Self says three people suffered minor injuries there. They include two residents of a nursing home who were taken to a hospital after swirling winds clipped the building.

The National Weather Service has confirmed at least two tornadoes tore through the area Tuesday, and several others have been reported.

Tornadoes and violent storms crumbled the wing of a nursing home and peeled roofs from dozens of homes in a destructive start to a Texas tornado season that forecasters say will be livelier than normal.

Big-rig trailers tossed into the air spiraled hundreds of yards like football, overturned cars left streets unnavigable and flattened trucks clogged highway shoulders. The National Weather Service confirmed two tornadoes and issued new warnings as the severe weather system crept east toward Louisiana.

In suburban Dallas, Lancaster Mayor Marcus Knight said multiple residents in his city were injured, including some critically. Two residents of a nursing home in Arlington were taken to a hospital with minor injuries after swirling winds clipped the building, city assistant fire chief Jim Self said.

"Of course the windows were flying out, and my sister is paralyzed, so I had to get someone to help me get her in a wheelchair to get her out of the room," said Joy Johnston, who was visiting her 79-year-old sister at the Green Oaks Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.

"It was terribly loud."

Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport cancelled hundreds of flights and diverted others heading its way. Among the most stunning video was an industrial section of Dallas, where rows of empty tractor-trailers crumpled like soda cans littered a parking lot.

"The officers were watching the tornadoes form and drop," Kennedale police Chief Tommy Williams said. "It was pretty active for a while."

The confirmed tornadoes touched down near Royce City and Silver Springs, said National Weather Service meteorologist Matt Bishop. A tornado watch remained in effect until 8 p.m. CST.

April is the peak of the tornado season that runs from March until June. Bishop said Tuesday's storms suggest that ‘we're on pace to be above normal’.

Most of Dallas was spared the full wrath of the storm. Residents could be seen walking down the street with firefighters and peering into homes, looking at the damage after the storm passed.

The storm pushed cars into fences and toppled trees. Branches and limbs scattered across lawns and residential streets, and in one driveway, a tow-behind RV was left torn apart and crumpled.

"Obviously we're going to have a lot of assessments to make when this is done," Dallas County spokeswoman Maria Arita said.

American Airlines cancelled more than 450 arriving and departing flights at it hub airport by late Tuesday afternoon, and 37 other incoming flights had been diverted to different airports.

DFW Airport spokesman David Magana daid more than 110 planes have been damaged by hail. It wasn't clear how many belong to American Airlines, but American and American Eagle had pulled 101 planes out of service for hail-damage inspections.

Flights also were cancelled at Dallas Love Field, which is a big base for Southwest Airlines. That airline canceled more than 45 flights in and out of the airport by Tuesday evening.

Meteoroligists said the storms were the result of slow-moving storm system centred over northern New Mexico.