US Rep. Joe Barton tweeted this photo of a tornado visible from his district office in Arlington — Tuesday, April 3, 2012.

Tornadoes tore through the Dallas-Fort Worth area on Tuesday, tossing tractor-trailers and causing widespread damage. Use our Storify timeline below to see how Texas officials reacted and responded to the afternoon’s events.

[<a href=”http://storify.com/texastribune/texas-lawmakers-respond-to-wave-of-tornadoes” target=”_blank”>View the story “Tornadoes rip through Dallas-Fort Worth” on Storify</a>]

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Aman Batheja was a political reporter and editor for the Tribune from 2012 to 2019. Previously he worked for eight years at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, most of that time covering state and local politics....