greater dallas-ft. worth area. the entire area under a tornado watch into the evening. these tornadoes exist and are expected to continue to deliver energy of an extraordinary force. hopefully in a fashion that we can anticipate and prepare at least enough for to save lives. weather channel meteorologist carl parker is tracking the storms for us live. carl, the power is self-evident. just howey kwi equipped are we forewarn people who may still be in the path of these storms? >> we still have our eye on rotating storms that are largely moving away from dallas and ft. worth, so things appear to be improving somewhat across the metroplex, but there is still now a line of storms that's coming between ft. worth and dallas, and there is a little rotation within that. so certainly there is still tornadic potential with that. the storms that we saw earlier

are passing now to the north. they are moving up into the very northern part of the state of texas, moving away at about 25 miles an hour. here you're looking at video of the tornado that we saw earlier today. now, this was the storm that came up into dallas county, in the southeast side of dallas. you see the power flashes there. we've seen a pretty good bit of damage. most of what we've seen seems to be in the realm of ef-1 or ef-2 damage, so low to moderate in terms of the amount of damage. when you're looking at there is what we call the condensation funnel. that's the actual cloud that is formed by low pressure within that circulation, but then at the interface there, the bottom, that is the suction spot, the dust envelope, and it was not only dust but it was debris that was being picked up by the storm, hurled about and then thrown out. you've got a lot of different motions within that storm. you've got inflow there, you've got lateral motion, you've got upward vertical motion, so this was a very well defined tornado that probably lasted a good 25

minutes or so as it passed to the south and southeast of dallas, and there you see some of the results on the left there. dylan? >> again, to what degree, carl, does the current meteorological technology allow the national weather service to provide advance warning to those who may be in the path of such a storm? >> well, it's not thbad. it's really not bad. we're able to detect rotation within a storm. so you've got general thunderstorms which do not rotate, and then you've got super cell thunderstorms which do rotate. so when you've got an environment which includes wind sheer, which is to say winds moving at different speeds and different directions at different heights within the atmosphere, what that does is create a rolling motion which then is tilted into the vertical by a developing thunderstorm, and once we see that on doppler radar, once we see that rotating storm, then you know that you've got a chance at seeing a tornado, so certainly there were

tornado warnings that were issued well before this did occur. sometimes there are tornadoes that slip by and are not warned on in a timely fashion, but i do believe that in this case, there was a good bit of warning before these tornadoes touched down, dylan. >> which we have to presume is the most significant factor in preventing a loss of life. what -- last question, carl. what is the history of rotating storms to the point of forming, of touchdown, occurring in such a densely populated area. dallas is the fourth largest metro area in the united states of america. is there any precedent for storms of this intensity co combining with this level of population density? >> there certainly is. dallas is very much in the heart of what we call tornado alley, and when you get towards april and may, that's when things

really tend to come together. you get plenty of warmth and moisture flowing out of the gulf of mexico, and you get strong disturbances that come out across the rockies and into the plains, so really, it is, at this time of year, anywhere from central and south texas all the way up through the state into oklahoma, and then beyond that into kansas, nebraska and the northern plains. that entire swath, really, from canada all the way down to mexico tends to see these stronger storms at this time of year. now, of course, they can happen at any part of the state, and if they happen in west texas, in wide open country that it's not as big of a deal, but every once in a while, things line up just right or poorly, as the case may be, in parts of metro areas. so that certainly would happen in this case. >> well, listen, thanks for educating us a little bit, carl, especially on the detection technology, which is encouraging. i want to turn our attention to nbc's gabe gutierrez, who is on the ground at dallas-ft. worth

airport. gabe, just roughly, how many people are at that terminal or on that tarmac, and what is the weather? >> well, the weather, as it has been for the past hour or so, is pretty bad. it is no longer hailing, but there is a heavy rainfall right now. passengers are once again being told to stay away from the windows, and there is really no indication on when this airport might reopen. everyone is just kind of waiting for this spell to pass. we do not know, you know, how many flights have been delayed but we can tell you that all flights are being delayed, so no one is coming in or out of dfw right now. also rental cars, the rental car center is also shut down, and right now everybody is just in a wait and see pattern to see when this severe weather passes. >> but beyond being asked to stay away from the windows, has there been any point at which the individuals in the airport

have been asked to seek more secure ground or in those lower tunnels? >> not particularly. i mean, when we were outside, airport personnel did tell people to seek cover inside, and again, stay away from the windows, but there's been no more severe action than that. >> gabe, thank you for your information. i want to turn to jim lecamp, who is an eyewitness joining us now on the hot line in downtown ft. worth. jim, tell us what you saw that we didn't. >> well, i was driving from dallas to ft. worth and i called the weatherman and he said it's in arlington, and that's where i was. so i looked off to my left, which is south, and i saw some very, very dark clouds that reached all the way to the ground in kind of that triangle formation. i don't know if it was a funnel cloud or what, but it looked nasty. so i made it through there.

the rain got really bad. made it through there, and i'm in downtown ft. worth now. it's pretty clear in downtown ft. worth, but just north of here, it's very, very dark and nasty looking. and the other bad scene is that it can go from fairly light to very dark in seconds on my way from one place to the other. so it seems to be an ever-changing condition. >> jim, thank you for giving us a better picture of what you and others in the area are experiencing. again, 6.3 million americans live in the area that you see before you in those pictures. that is the fourth largest metro area in north america truly under siege this afternoon. four different fully formed tornadoes touching down. the warning systems seem to have been working, at least according

to our weather services such that there have been, it appears, indication that this was going to happen at least minutes before any touchdowns. folks were given the opportunity, hopefully more than minutes, to seek coverage. joining us now on the phone is a man who knows all too well about the need to be a few minutes ahead of these storms and take cover. reed timmer is a storm chaser for the discovery channel who is currently on the texas-oklahoma border passing the red river. the chain of tornadoes, if the energy sustains itself, is actually heading in reed's direction. give us your sense, reed, of how it's possible, if it's possible to sustain the amount of visual damage we're able to see simply through the videotape and whether the warning systems are adequate such that you can sustain this level of damage and still largely protect human life. >> yeah, the warning system did

a very good job today. they're way ahead of schedule with these warnings, and the problem in much of the region th we do have loss of life is people aren't aware of the warnings in most cases, or they're aware of the warning and they just decide not to take cover because they assume it won't hit their location. i'm hoping since the last two tornado seasons, when there's a warning, they need to assume the worst case scenario. and also stay tuned to the weather, and if there's a chance of tornadoes coming up in the afternoon that they should try to have a safety plan in place and not be trapped out on the road unprepared. >> and again, what is a typical interval -- carl richards from the national weather service educating us a few minutes ago, what is the typical weather of the doppler warning us of a typical air mass, and how far typically is that before any potential, actual, mature storm

formation? >> most storms are based on doppler radar. it doesn't mean there is a tornado on the ground. it could be a precursor to a tornado, but it means it's capable of putting one down. the tornado warning is issued immediately as soon as they see that strong rotation in the storm. you can have high rotation in any storm, but it doesn't turn into a tornado until it reaches down to lower levels. and also storm chasers in the field will be the eyes of the storm process, so there's a huge number of people who play a role in this. >> reed, thank you, again, for continuing our education and helping us to contextualize devastating pictures we're seeing of physical damage in the area. the largest metro area, 6 million people. you can see the intensity of the storm readings and of the apparent damage that you can see on the video to homes and, for

that matter, the tractor-trailer park you see keeps coming up on the images. that was a storage facility for tractor-trailers but it gives you a sense of the amount of force, the profound force, that nature is able to render and the rarity in which that force is delivered to such a densely populated american city. brian williams preparing for his broadcast a couple hours from now. the best news at this hour, brian, does seem to be that all the warning systems were highly active. it really came down to whether people received and acted on those warnings when it comes to the risk to other americans. >> well, dylan, that's right, and a couple points. i know you made the point about the sirens and you're absolutely correct. all the spotters say when they entered all these towns, when public safety people entered the towns and sirens were sounding,

just yesterday the weather service started a pilot program where they're going to start using more frank language to combat the crying wolf effect of our weather lately and so many tornado warnings and watches. remember the difference, a warning is either a tornado has been spotted or is imminent, according to radar, and that's the bad one you don't want. above the trucking yard, that's schneider, the recognizable orange trucks, and while it's not a fair fight, the wind versus an empty haul of a truck trailer, and we saw that, they're reporting massive damage on the ground. another business angle here, and you touched on this in your conversation with gabe, out at dfw where they are sheltering all the passengers in the airport in place and advising them to stay away from the glass, everything has been canceled in and out. american airlines now has to inspect 68 exposed aircraft for hail damage. very rare to get tornadoes of this size without accompanying

hail. the average has been a quarter in diameter. but all those aircraft are exposed. there's no way to bring them in. there's nothing you can do about it. make sure there are no passengers on them. so american airlines, the hub, of course, at dfw, has a big problem on its hands. the only other thing i would add, dylan, we are used to reporting these storms moving at forward speeds of 40 to 60 miles an hour during tornado season. that's the bad news here. these upper level winds are kind of pokey and these storms have only been moving across the landscape at about 25 miles an hour. in the military they call that time over target, and that has added to the damage we're seeing. it hit some of the nicer suburbs of dallas, texas. arlington, texas was in the bull's eye a few moments ago, so it's going to take a while. this kind of curtain comes down any time there's been a tornado.

while th -- while they go to work saving lives and property and then you get a count of neighbors and then you get hard information. it was hours before we knew how hard hit tuscaloosa was hit, for example. these storms don't seem to be of the same caliber. >> thank you very much, brian, for the reporting. i want to turn our attention to the local political community. joining us on the phone is congresswoman eddie bernice johnson. her district represented in the picture that you see before you. obviously, congresswoman, substantial property damage that clearly has yet to be assessed in any meaningful way. do you have any context for this? in other words, in the history of your service, have storms of this level of forced effort contacted an area of texas that is so densely populated? >> yes.

well, it happened back in the '90s. but much of the area which it's destroying now is new development. and so much of it was not there. the destruction is great. and i stand ready to be of any assistance i can be to anybody in the whole area. i'm very gratified that i've not heard about too many deaths or lives being lost. there have been some injuries, but i just hope and pray that there will not be a number of lives lost. >> again, the balmy sort of encouraging news, i suppose, on that front is all the reporting on the warning systems and the ability to identify the rotating area coming down to whether people are like that. how long do you have to wait for federal funding to help some of these communities that obviously

will need it? >> i would think by the business day tomorrow we can be in touch with our government, who will make a quick assessment and determine whether there's enough destruction to seek federal government's assistance. >> and if you were to look at how disruptive something like this is to these communities, beyond the actual touchdown points, give us a sense of what happens in a community after a disaster like this in texas. >> it is very disruptive. our schools close, our city services usually have to close. people's routines are very disrupted. it is pitch dark here and it's just a little bit after 3:00 p.m., and it's a scary situation with all of the people concerned. it is all over dallas and some

of ellis and colin county, and we are very, very concerned. and i'm very grateful that many of us up to this point are in safe places. and my office is continuously open, and we are trying to be of service, but it's very little service that we can render right at this time because of the tornado and the rain and the hail continues. >> congresswoman, thank you for making the time to speak with us. we will take a momentary break here as we look at pictures of video shot over the past couple hours this afternoon as an incredibly intense set of tornado-generating thunderstorms continues to sweep north of dallas-ft. worth at this hour. again, substantial property damage. as yet, no confirmed fatalities. some reported injuries. we are back on msnbc with more

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good tuesday afternoon to you from new york. i am dylan ratigan, and again, we find ourselves this afternoon covering an extraordinary storm series that has touched down throughout one of the most densely populated regions of our country. you're looking at damage to homes in dallas-ft. worth, the fourth largest city in america. at least four tornadoes touching down on the ground. as brian williams pointed out

when he spoke to us a few moments ago, one of the additional aggravations and dangers associated with this particular storm series is that the rate at which the overall storm is moving across the ground is below average, and as a result, the tornado, when it does touch down, is staying there longer, and to that end we've asked weather channel meteorologist carl parker to rejoin us. give us a sense of how slow this overall series of storms is moving, carl, whether that is, in fact, still the case, and just how much more damage is possible when you get a slow-moving set like this? >> well, that certainly has been a factor today. oftentimes when we have tornado outbreaks, you'll have a very strong upper level wind, and so your parent storm, the storm that's producing the tornado, will travel in some cases at 60 or 70 miles an hour. that was the case back on march 2nd, that was the case during the april 27th tornado outbreak last year, so they're quick hit

t ters. so oftentimes when you have those upper level winds, that is when you get the high-end extremely violent tornadoes. i don't think we've seen those truly high-end tornadoes here. this seems to be consistent with ef-1 to ef-2 damage, so the low to moderate damage where you see structural damage, roofs being damaged or in some cases torn away. certainly it is very scary but not the worst of tornadoes. but as you say, because of those slower upper level winds, the parent storm is not moving as quickly, and so it lasts for a longer time. now, as far as the threat going forward, there is now dryer air just off to the west of dallas and ft. worth. the front is getting ready to move in. so once this last group of storms comes through dallas and ft. worth, the dry air begins to move in, and then that severe threat is going to be eliminated. but we still have some storms to get through, there are still

some roads getting storms now. sunnyvale under direct threat with a storm, pretty well-defined circulation and certainly large hail and damaging wind threats as well. dylan? >> can you quantify for us, carl, the time duration of the shift from the dry air front you just referenced to basically displaced storm cells in dallas? >> you know, it's been moving very slowly because the larger storm has been moving very slowly, and it's interesting because we've seen a lot more of this type of weather system in recent years. these are called cut-off lows and they're called that because they move very slowly, separated, cut off from the main jet stream, and they kind of plod along, and that's what's happening in this case. that parent storm is plodding along, as is the dry air associated with it. so it's probably going to be over the next, say, two to three hours that it overspreads the metro area so we see less of a threat initially on the west

side, and then towards evening, we see no threat at all as that dryer air comes in. but the threat will continue in areas farther east from oklahoma down to northeast texas and down into east texas. still certainly damaging wind and hail threat. and we may yet see some more strong tornadoes, dylan. >> last question, carl, what is your ability or anybody's ability to assess the continuation of the cell series east through -- across the path and into oklahoma? >> well, the one thing that's been happening in oklahoma today is that we've seen a lot of cloud cover today, so temperatures have been cooler. one thing storms need to feed on is very warm and very humid air. as you know, it's been very warm across most of the east for quite some time, so there was no shortage of that today in texas. but farther north, a localit ofn coming down in oklahoma, so as those storms have been moving up across north texas, crossing the red river.

they've been running into that cooler surface air made so by the cooler rain, so it does bring down the threat. it's not nothing, but it does bring down the threat a little bit. >> so the warm air is effectively fuel for the fire. thank you, carl. i want to turn our attention to one of the communities, burleson, texas. joining us on the phone is the town's mayor, ken shedder. the storms have already hit this region just south of ft. worth. mr. mayor, what's the damage assessment? >> well, we are fortunate, and our city in burleson, most of the damage here is from lightning strikes. we had a few trees on fire, a downed power line, an electrical box fire, but no personal injuries and most of our work really involved deploying resources to communities just outside our city helping manage the situation there. >> yeah, and that was my follow-up question. what is your capacity having had the benefit up to this point of

having dodged, obviously, the worst of this to deploy resources? i imagine most communities won't be hit, fortunately, by these tornadoes, but those will be the communities that will have to rise to the occasion. >> right. and we are the city that puts a lot of resources into emergency management, and we cooperate regionally, so, for example, we have a large command truck that we sent to joshua which was more directly hit by some of the storms earlier today, and our truck is still there helping coordinate resources, and if we need to, i'm sure we'll be sending some folks to just northeast a little bit later. >> we were talking to eddie bernice johnson, the congresswoman, a few moments ago from the region, and she was saying that the last time tornadoes like this touched down in the dallas-ft. worth area was in the '90s but that since then

there's been significant development of the exurbs, if you will, to the north. how much development has it hit through the dallas-ft. worth area? >> i can say our city has grown by about 75% in about that time, so today our population is 37,000, where the last time we dealt with storms like this, it was closer to 20,000. so she's right about that. >> mr. mayor, thank you for the time and all the best in your efforts to help your community navigate what will obviously be, at its best, very disruptive, and at its worst, a tragedy. we are tracking the latest on an incredible series of thunderstorms that have been pounding the fourth largest urban area in america. we are also, however, tracking politics. today is another primary day.

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welcome back. we continue to track an intense and slow-moving group of super cells in dallas-ft. worth this afternoon. 6.3 million people in the region, a region that has seen, as we discussed earlier, significant development. all we know at this hour is there is significant property damage. we do not as yet have a reliable account for any fatalities, or, for that matter, a reasonable number of injuries. we do know the tornado warning systems by all accounts were working well, and it is widely believed that most people, we

hope, were able to accommodate some secure environment in the face of mother nature's really profound theory throwing around the things that we build like toys. as we turn our attention away, however, from the storms at this moment to the electoral politics, governor rundell joins us with what will be, as we can imagine, this final mitt romney consensus. >> i think so, dylan. let me say that my brother, his wife and my two nieces live in dallas. property damage with always be rebuilt, and it's good so far there is no loss of life. that's the important thing. and i'm told by your staff that cell phone coverage is out in dallas. >> yeah. the best communications mechanism they're saying is good

old-fashioned e-mail. if you have any functionality like text messaging and anything off of a hard line of any kind is the first to go. the best reporting that we're getting, though, across the board goes to the effectiveness of the warning system, so while the storms are horrible and the population level is remarkably dense, which is the big variable here, and they're slow moving, that that's all the bad news. the good news is that a huge percentage of the population, if not all of them, because the doppler can detect any rotation in those storms, as soon as they see rotation, they issue a warning, and for good reason. your thoughts, ed, as we turn to the political setup. >> assume that the polls are right and the polls have mitt romney way ahead in maryland and winning wisconsin by 7, 8, 9 points, assuming those polls are

correct, and i believe they probably are, this should put an end to the campaign. i think rick santorum has to make a judgment. first of all, if you step back for a second, he's done very, very well, dylan. a week before iowa, if someone said that rick santorum would be one of the two last candidates left standing, that he would have won primaries in ten states, you would have said, no, it would never happen in a million years. i think he's acquitted himself very, very well. i think he does not want to go into pennsylvania, and here's why. he could win pennsylvania, still could, likely to, but if he loses pennsylvania, it negates all the goodies done for himself and his reputation, and people will just remember that he couldn't even hold his home state. when mitt romney won massachusetts with 72% of the vote. so i think it's time for senator santorum to be the team player, to be the good guy, to stand up tomorrow and say, let's unite behind governor romney. i've had some differences with him, but i think he's a good american and someone who can

lead our party. >> of your opinion, we have not seen meaningful debate in the gop primary process from the get-go of critical american issues like the need for 30 million jobs, like the largest wealth and equality since the guilded age, like the lowest social mobility going back to the guilded age. spain, england has a higher probability of somebody born in the lower 20% of economic strata moving into the top 20% than america when our own constitution suggests that that is the aspiration. we are in the top six in the world for assassinations all tied with folks like iran and yemen and iraq and north korea. there should be executions. we have the largest incarceration population of any

country in the west. none of this has been a subject of debate in the gop primary debate. all of it is at the center of america's distress, whatever your race, color or age. any chance that any of it ends up in the presidential debate? >> well, you're absolutely right, and the gop has been the loser because of that. they had a chance to really put some concrete proposals before the american people about the economy and about turning around the country's wealth and equality, and they haven't done it. the closest thing was senator santorum's plan not to tax manufacturing, and although i understand his sentiments, i don't think that's a very workable plan. can we see it in the general election? yeah, i think we have a chance of seeing it in the general election. you know, the comment that the romney aide got killed about the etch a sketch and starting over, they can't start over in the

sense of mitt romney will be talked about in the fall. he can roll out a concrete plan how he would be different than the president, what he would do for job creation, how he would try to smooth out that income in equality, how he would open up opportunity for people, but he's got to do it and he's got to do it pretty quickly. >> yeah. a pleasure to see you, governor. thank you for your time, and i do hope that you're able to hear from your family members in texas sooner than later. my unprofessional advice is if a text and the cell phone is not working, just sandy e-mail, maybe a doesn't second option, at least in the short term. >> thank you, dylan. >> thank you, governor. again, we are waiting for a news conference out of dallas-ft. worth with some sort of initial damage assessment. we'll bring that to you as it happens. we return here on msnbc right after this.

there's a live look at one of the most densely populated areas in the united states of america, lancaster, texas, part of a broad region known as dallas-ft. worth. a series of tornadoes touching down in dallas-ft. worth this afternoon pepprpetrating substantial property damage, undefined human toll at this hour. weather channel meteorologist carl parker does have an update for us. in a sense, good news. if i understand correctly, carl, these really terrifying storms, based on these images, are moving at least into less densely populated areas; is that correct? >> the last tornado warning right now is moving away from downtown dallas. there is still a warning in the metro area but now the warnings are shifting more up toward the north and east and along the 30 corridor while in dallas you see that line of storms that is

coming through, so still there is a wind and hail threat with that, but just behind that line, dryer air is beginning to filter in. as that dry air continues to move across the metroplex, we are going to see a substantially reduced threat and it's going to turn to almost nothing later today as that dry air continues to filter in. the severe threat will then shift into northeast texas, southeast oklahoma, western parts of arkansas and still a general thunderstorm threat right down the 35 and 45 corridors in central parts of texas. dylan? >> the nbc affiliate that's an owned and operated station in dallas-ft. worth put out on its twitter account that there has been an evacuation at love field and there was a sighting of a funnel. where is dallas-ft. worth airport, and can you verify what they are publishing? >> well, dallas-ft. worth airport is right in between dallas and ft. worth, close to

arlington. so it's right in the middle of the metroplex, and there is this line of storms that is now coming through. now, it's not uncommon to get little spin-ups with a more ordinary line of storms. oftentimes there is sheer right along the leading edge of those lines, and that will develop a little spin. what we are not seeing in downtown dallas right now is a very well-developed super cell storm of the type that pro dudu those more long track tornadoes, the ones we saw on the south side of dallas that must have lasted about 25 minutes as it traveled up into the dallas area. and those types of storms are now moving away and off into the northeast part of the state. we've got this last line, and we can't rule out more tornadoes, but it does appear the threat is gradually beginning to diminish across the dallas-ft. worth area. >> all right. thank you, carl. as we turn our attention to reed t timmer, who is a storm chaser with the discovery channel, he is actually upstream, if you

will, of the storm patterns while it leaves dallas-ft. worth and heads up the i-35/i-45 corridors. it's heading in reed's direction. what is your sense, reed, of the power of a set of cells like this? in other words, is there any parameter to indicate how long a set of cells like this could generate this level of energy? >> yeah, i'm continuously monitoring that data, and right now we're heading east toward that eastern cluster in northeast texas. it's heading toward the paris, texas area, sulphur springs, there's like ail tornado on the ground west of there, there's a new cluster of super cells with a very, very strong rotation. those storms moving into the environment are just about maxed out today in terms of tornadoes. we'll head southeast out of paris and we should have a visual of these tornadoes within the hour. >> i asked carl this earlier,

who is our meteorologist, at the probability that the intensity keeps up into oklahoma. he said because of the cloud cover in oklahoma keeping the air temperatures down that as cooler air temperatures surround the air mass that the storm generation will diminish. how much cooler is it where you are compared to where the storms were? >> well, we came from oklahoma earlier today, and it was in the upper 50s. he's right, it's too stable north of this warm front for tornadoes to happen up there. but anywhere long and south of the warm front is where the tornados exist, and that stretches just south of the red river in oklahoma. there's a chance later on in the evening as a new cluster storm continues to move north that southwest oklahoma, southeast arkansas could be in for a tornado. i wouldn't be surprised if paris and sulphur springs have large

damaging tornadoes on the ground already. >> and that acceleration of energy is a function of the warm air that is in that region? >> basically, the storms that happened last night in oklahoma, they shifted all the air south toward texas. it takes a while to lift north, but as that lifted north, the northern edge of that moisture instability is where you have that enhanced wind sheer to make she's storms rotate, and that's why these super cells have been producing prolific tornadoes, because there is that much more energy that makes them spin. >> the biggest thing is the variance, correct, that you have very different quality air masses running into each other, and the scene is this chaos we're witnessing. >> basically any air mass is a boundary or front, and that's what initiated these storms, but it's also what's making the rotation that much stronger. you have wind swaying all the

way around southwesterly at high levels in the atmosphere, and it's that wind sheer that causes that super cell to spin like a top. i would say there is probably at least two or three tornadoes on the ground in that cluster in northeast texas south of paris right now. >> thank you for your time and analysis, reed. reed timmer, our storm chaser with the discovery channel. we'll take a quick break here. you can see the live images and intense energy that is being released from that scene. this strip of red, the consequences of that energy -- there you go -- there will be pictures like this for hours and days to come, i am certain. you are looking at a live shot of dallas-ft. worth on the third tuesday in april, and a profound set of storms hitting a densely populated area. we will take a break after this. ♪

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storm. but the damage appeared to be restricted to root damage. i didn't see any walls torn out or anything like that, but i didn't go very deep. >> so that's good news. so more like ef-0, ef-1 damage, probably, from this, not a really destructive tornado, but probably a lot of that debris you were seeing was shingles flying through the air. >> right, shingles, insulation, you know, the plastic that covers insulation sometimes. a lot of that flying around. >> we're looking at our velocity display right now. still a good bunch of greens and reds together. it's centered over chisolm right now in rockwall county. i think we still have a tornado there. do you have a vantage point where you can see a storm on the ground, a funnel, at this point? >> no, i didn't, but i did see a large funnel develop.

i couldn't see debris under it, but that was probably ten minutes ago, maybe. >> okay. you're listening to the nbc affiliate in dallas-ft. worth. joe holeran is the mayor where the first funnel was spotted today at 12:30 this afternoon. what's your damage estimate? >> we're quite fortunate. we did have a confirmed tornado in this city but didn't have any damage and didn't have any injuries. just outside the city limits, we did have a couple houses that had the shingles torn off. i believe there were a couple horses that had to be put down. we're in a rural area, and i believe there are several barns that had some damage, but the first one, we did not have any damage within the city limits. we had another one about 45 minutes later on the other side of town just outside the city limits, but there was not any damage from that one, either. >> how much information have you been able to gather from other community leaders? >> i've not talked to any of the

leaders personally, but from what i've seen on tv, the city of arlington was evidently hit very hard, and i believe lancaster as well was hit pretty hard. >> mr. mayor, thank you for the time this afternoon, and again, all of our thoughts go to everybody in every community in texas this tuesday afternoon suffering from an extraordinary display of natural force in a very, very densely populated area. the best thing we can report today is the effectiveness of the tornado warning system, so while the storms have been intense and obviously have been in a heavily densely populated area, the ability to anticipate their arrival for most at this point has, at least for now, kept the number of casualties reported down. we'll take a momentary break. we're back with you here right after this. i take insulin,

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well, an interesting afternoon, to say the least, in our country as the primaries continue to wind their way down to an inevitable romney nomination away from the workings of the humans . in our mother nature, tornadoes reared up but weren't as serious by virtue of their location. dallas, 6.3 million people, in a very slow-moving chain. i'll read from the red cross. th