OKLAHOMA CITY — Twin tornadoes raked Oklahoma City and its suburbs during the height of rush hour Monday afternoon, tossing cars off highways and flipping mobile homes.

The storms were part of a violent weather system that also spawned twisters in Kansas and elsewhere in Oklahoma.

Only one minor injury was reported, but emergency managers feared the count would rise as first responders fanned out across the state. Forecasters had warned of the tornado outbreak since last week and TV broadcasters dedicated their entire day to storm coverage.

Interstate 40, a major east-west route, was closed in both directions just east of Oklahoma City because of widespread destruction near its intersection with Choctaw Road. Damage was reported throughout the region, home to 1.2 million people.

Along I-35, which connects Kansas City to Dallas, overturned tractor-trailers lined the median at Moore, but the road remained open. Nearby, a small Baptist college south was perched along the highway, missing its roof.

Grant County Emergency Management Director Max Hess says one man scraped his elbow when winds knocked him down as he was trying to get to his cellar. Baseball-sized hail knocked out windows in county equipment and poked a hole in the roof of a county-owned building.

"We have light poles down for a mile and a half, then it skips a quarter-mile and more poles are down," Hess said. "A big metal bin is missing its top. It looks pretty bad," Hess said.

Oklahoma City and its suburbs saw three storms develop just to the west and each caused damage as they moved north and south of the metropolitan area.

"We've had a very strange event: multiple tornadic portions with this event as it came through," said David Barnes, the emergency management director for Oklahoma County. "We have multiple vehicle overturned, a housing edition has had multiple homes destroyed."

The Storm Prediction Center at Norman had predicted the outbreak, saying the atmosphere had the right mix of winds, heat and moisture. One twister touched down just east of the center's building on the University of Oklahoma campus.