Twin twisters crush homes, cause chaos in Dallas-Fort Worth area

(Updated at 5:45 p.m. CT)

By Jason Sickles, Yahoo! Dallas Editor

A rash of tornadoes rumbled across the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area Tuesday, leveling homes and tossing big-rigs around like toy trucks. North Texans scrambled for cover as warning sirens blared throughout the afternoon.

There were reports of some injuries, but no confirmed fatalities. Homes and business were hit hard in at least five counties.

By late afternoon the most severe storms had moved off to rural northeast Texas.

In Forney, 22 miles east of Dallas, officials were inspecting an elementary school that sustained damage. Officials said no students were harmed. But homes around the school were flattened.

"Oh no! Oh no!" a storm spotter watching the Forney tornado told CBS 11 during a live broadcast. "Oh my goodness. I can see the homes just being torn apart."

At the height of the storms, the National Weather Service declared Dallas-Fort Worth counties to be under a "tornado emergency." Sirens blared in downtown Dallas and Fort Worth, schools huddled children in hallways and passengers at DFW International Airport were rushed to safe areas.

Stay-at-home mom Jean Kelly saw the madness unfold from the 19th floor of her high-rise apartment in downtown Dallas. "Today, I heard the thunder first. Then, I heard the sound that no one, especially not a new parent, wants to hear: the tornado siren," she wrote in a first-hand account for the Yahoo Contributor Network.

Click image to see more photos (Reuters)

Some of the most impressive photos showed numerous tractor-trailer trucks toppled like toy cars.

"This is as serious of a tornado we've seen in years," said CBS 11 meteorologist Larry Mowry.

Amateur images of the twisters flooded social media, including baseball player Mike Napoli's video of a funnel cloud passing over the Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.

Television news helicopters broadcast images of a couple of the twisters, one of which was estimated to 1/2-mile wide. The first tornado, first spotted about 20 miles south of Fort Worth, was believed to be on the ground for 30 minutes.

Storm spotters relayed live reports of widespread major damage of homes and other buildings. They mayor of Arlington quickly declared that city to be a local disaster.

"Oh man!" a spotter surveying damage told CBS 11. "People are running frantically trying to see if people are ok."

Some homeowners were said to be scouring damaged neighborhoods for missing family photos and pets. The American Red Cross was dispatched to the hardest hit areas and were seeking volunteers.

Tell us your story: Did you witness the Dallas tornado and storms?? Share your story with Yahoo! News. | Get photos or video? Upload your storm images on our Flickr page.

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