Tornadoes tore through the Dallas area today, tearing roofs off homes, tossing trucks into the air and leaving flattened tractor trailers strewn along highways and parking lots. (Video from MSNBC in the gallery begins, "Hey guys, it's throwing 18-wheelers.") The National Weather Service reported at least two separate "large and extremely dangerous" tornadoes south of Dallas and Fort Worth. Several other developing twisters were reported as a band of violent storms moved north through the metropolitan area. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
Highway video cameras showed a large, dark funnel cloud moving on the ground not far from a busy Dallas interstate early this afternoon. Big-rig tractor trailers crumpled like soda cans littered an industrial parking lot, and flattened trailers clogged the sides of highways and access roads. In one Dallas County neighborhood, local television footage showed homes without roofs while other buildings were flattened. A Dallas Police spokeswoman said an apparent twister also touched down and caused damage within the city's southern limits, though the extent was not immediately known. The weather service said "considerable damage" was reported near Cleburne, south of Fort Worth, and Lancaster, south of Dallas. (More tornado stories.)