ARLINGTON, Texas — The tornado hurtled toward the nursing home. Physical therapist Patti Gilroy said she saw the swirling mass barreling down through the back door, after she herded patients into the hallway in the order trained: walkers, wheelchairs, then beds.
"It wasn't like a freight train like everybody says it is," said Gilroy, who rounded up dozens to safety at Green Oaks Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. "It sounded like a bomb hit. And we hit the floor, and everybody was praying. It was shocking."
The National Weather Service said as many as a dozen twisters touched down in a wrecking-ball swath of violent weather that stretched across Dallas and Fort Worth. The destructive reminder of a young tornado season Tuesday left thousands without power and hundreds of homes pummeled or worse.
As the sun rose Wednesday over the southern Dallas suburb of Lancaster, one of the hardest hit areas, it was clear that twisters had bounced in and out of neighborhoods, destroying homes at random. Vehicles were tossed like toys, coming to rest in living rooms and bedrooms.
At one house, a tornado had seemingly dipped into the building like an immersion blender, spinning directly down through an upstairs bedroom and wreaking havoc in the family room below before lifting straight back up and away. A grandfather clock leaned slightly but otherwise stood pristine against a wall at the back of the downstairs room that was filled with smashed furniture and fallen support beams.
Despite the intensity of the slow-moving storms, only a handful of people were hurt, a couple of them seriously, and no fatalities were reported as of late Tuesday.
The Red Cross estimated that 650 homes were damaged. Around 150 Lancaster residents stayed in a shelter Tuesday night.
"I guess `shock' is probably a good word," Lancaster Mayor Marcus Knight said.
The exact number of tornadoes won't be known until surveyors have fanned across North Texas, looking for clues among the debris that blanketed yards and rooftops peeled off slats. Knight said city officials and weather experts were surveying the stricken areas Wednesday.
April is typically the worst month in a tornado season that stretches from March to June, but Tuesday's outburst suggests that "we're on pace to be above normal," said National Weather Service meteorologist Matt Bishop.
An entire wing at the Green Oaks nursing home in Arlington crumbled. Stunning video from Dallas showed big-rig trailers tossed into the air and spiraling like footballs. At the Cedar Valley Christian Center church in Lancaster, Pastor Glenn Young said he cowered in a windowless room with 30 children from a daycare program, some of them newborns.
Ten people in Lancaster were injured, two of them severely, said Lancaster police officer Paul Beck. Three people were injured in Arlington, including two Green Oaks residents taken to a hospital with minor injuries, Arlington Assistant Fire Chief Jim Self said.
Gilroy said the blast of wind through Green Oaks lasted about 10 seconds. She described one of her co-workers being nearly "sucked out" while trying to get a patient out of the room at the moment the facility was hit.
Joy Johnston was also there, visiting her 79-year-old sister.
"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," she said.
In one industrial section of Dallas, 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."
Most of Dallas was spared the full wrath of the storm. Yet in Lancaster, television helicopters panned over exposed homes without roofs and flattened buildings. Residents could be seen walking down the street with firefighters and peering into homes, looking at the damage after the storm passed.
Hundreds of flights into and out of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and Dallas Love Field were canceled or diverted elsewhere Tuesday. About 500 flights remained grounded Wednesday, airport officials said.
The storms knocked out power for thousands. Utility Oncor said nearly 14,000 homes and businesses, mainly in the Arlington area, still had no electricity early Wednesday.
Meteorologists said the storms were the result of a slow-moving storm system centered over northern New Mexico.
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Dixon reported from Lancaster. Associated Press writers Nomaan Merchant, Terry Wallace and David Koenig in Dallas, Betsy Blaney in Lubbock, Angela K. Brown in Fort Worth and Robert Ray in Lancaster contributed to this report.
| @ CBSDFW : Arlington's assistant fire chief says 150 homes in three different areas of the city suffered some sort of damage today. #DFWwx |
| @ RayVilleda : State Police arrived in #Forney and are in the neighborhood, surveying the damage. @NBCDFW |
| @ afgutierrez : #forney tornado ripped roof this house, similar scene across this town http://t.co/EoSFvMVh |
Reports have surfaced that tornadoes approached schools in Forney, Texas as twisters tore through areas south of Dallas and Forth Worth on Tuesday. Click here for more.
| @ cnnbrk : #Tornadoes in Dallas-Fort Worth area damaged about 300 buildings in Lancaster, city's mayor says. http://t.co/whJYPerZ |
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| @ RayVilleda : Police have gone door-to-door in Diamond Creek Subdivision in #Forney |
Car flipped over in front of Crosby Elementary in Forney. @NBCDFW#forney twitter.com/RayVilleda/sta…
— Ray Villeda (@RayVilleda) April 3, 2012
| @ RedCrossDFW : If you are looking for loved ones in #DFW area that may be affected by today's #tornaodes, search Safe & Well at http://t.co/vUgjhEB5 |
| @ usnoaagov : Today's storms in #Dallas-Fort Worth area hit one week after the 12th anniversary of destructive #twisters http://t.co/HNyaPO5T #NOAA |
| @ TWCBreaking : Latest tornado warning for Hunt Co., TX indicates large tornado 7 miles southwest of Greenville. Tornado emergency for Greenville! |
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| @ TWCBreaking : Main severe storm, tornado threat now over northeast TX to the east of Dallas/Ft. Worth. Radar, warnings: http://t.co/xffJHoBp |
Picture of four tornadoes hitting at once in DFW. twitter.com/TamaraJoleeTV/…
— ★Tamara Jolee★(@TamaraJoleeTV) April 3, 2012
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| @ TWCBreaking : Tornado reported near Royse City, TX at 4:05 CDT. Warning for Collin, Hunt, Rockwell Counties until 4:30 CDT. |
| @ wfaachannel8 : Tornado damage in Arlington neighborhood http://t.co/OaK260HB |
| @ Daniel_Novick : I'm on my way to #Forney where there are reports of heavy damage due to a possible #tornado. |
HuffPost's Craig Kanalley writes:
One place that seems to have been hit particularly hard by today's tornadoes in Texas is the city of Arlington, which sits just west of Dallas.Multiple reports of damage were posted to the Dallas-Fort Worth Police scanner Twitter account.
| @ DFWscanner : Sounds like tornado hit Crosby Elem in Forney, significant damage to homes. #txwx |
Napoli films dangerous storm at Rangers' park es.pn/HQsNzG
— ESPN (@ESPNHeadlines) April 3, 2012
Tornado now well northeast of Forney, TX & affecting McLendon-Chisolm, TX and Fate, TX NOW. Storm mvng to northeast @30 mph. Seek shelter!
— CNN Weather Center (@CNNweather) April 3, 2012
Let's keep those impacted by today's storms in North Texas in our thoughts and prayers. Our Emergency Management... fb.me/Yre1OQs1
— Betsy Price (@Betsy_Price) April 3, 2012
Cell phone service and TV just went out. It's getting really bad out there now.
— robertr09 (@RRavidgolfer) April 3, 2012
MSNBC reports cell phone coverage may be out in the DFW area
The storm has passed through #DFW. We will continue to monitor radar and provide updates. Thank you for your patience.
— DFW Airport (@dfwairport) April 3, 2012
At #DFW airport in womens bathroom huddled with my family and lots of people. Tornado sirens going. Surreal
— Guy Raz (@nprguyraz) April 3, 2012
Tornados left and right in dallas today. They wont let us leave the gym. Be safe everybody
— Dirk Nowitzki (@swish41) April 3, 2012
Unfortunately, due to severe weather at #DFW, all @AmericanAir operations at @DFWAirport are cancelled through this evening.
— American Airlines (@AmericanAir) April 3, 2012
#NWS has canceled the last tornado warning, but has #FortWorth & #tarrantcounty under a severe thunderstorm warning. #txwx
— City of Fort Worth (@cityoffortworth) April 3, 2012
National Weather Service offers more advice for protecting from Texas tornadoes, writing: "MOVE TO AN INTERIOR BATHROOM...CLOSET...OR HALLWAY ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF YOUR BUILDING. COVER YOURSELF WITH BLANKETS...PILLOWS...OR A MATTRESS FOR PROTECTION."
| @ CNNweather : CANCELLED #TORNADO Warning in Collin Co. in TX. #TXWX |
Richard (RJ) Eskow: Texas Tornadoes: Climate Change - and Climate Deniers - in the Lone Star State
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By SCHUYLER DIXON and PAUL J. WEBER 04/ 4/12 09:56 AM ET