Tornadoes sweep through Dallas area

Associated Press

SAN ANTONIO

Tornadoes swept through the Dallas area after dark Saturday evening causing significant damage while a blizzard was blanketing parts of New Mexico and West Texas with snow, the latest in the nation’s freakish winter weather pattern that sent temperatures plunging to near zero wind chill in the western Plains even as numerous record highs are forecast for the eastern U.S.

The Texas tornadoes shifted the national focus away from the Southeast where days of tumultuous weather including tornadoes left 18 people dead over the Christmas holiday period.

National Weather Service Meteorologist Anthony Bain in Fort Worth said two or possibly three tornadoes touched down in the Dallas area although the full extent of damage would not be known until daylight today.

WFAA television in Dallas showed video of damage to homes, a church and vehicles stretching from Garland, about 20 miles northeast of Dallas, to Glenn Heights, 20 miles south of the city.

The emergency manager of Ellis county south of Dallas, Stephanie Parker, posted on Twitter: “We have destroyed and damaged homes. Please do not get out on the roads if you do not have to.”

The twisters – accompanied by torrential rain, wind and some hail – were part of a weather system that could produce major flooding from north Texas through eastern Oklahoma, eastern Kansas, western Arkansas and parts of Missouri.

The severe weather snarled air traffic in the Dallas area. The Dallas Mavericks NBA game was delayed by 30 minutes because of the storm.

On the other side of Texas and including much of New Mexico, a snowstorm accompanied by plunging temperatures was expected to leave up to 16 inches of snow through this evening, according to NWS meteorologist Brendon Rubin-Oster in College Park, Md.

“It’s going to be quite dangerous for anyone exposed to these elements,” Rubin-Oster said.

Meanwhile, two more deaths linked to weather were reported Saturday in Mississippi, bringing that state’s death toll from severe weather over Christmas to 10. Late Saturday, one death was reported in Alabama.

One bit of good news for the battered Southeast was a forecast for calmer weather today.