Tornado Hits Dover as Storms Flood Northeast
Tornado Hits Dover as Storms Flood Northeast
The News
A tornado touched down in Dover, Delaware, on Thursday evening and caused significant damage across the city, police said, as a line of severe storms swept the Northeast and put millions along the Interstate 95 corridor under warnings.
The National Weather Service confirmed the Dover tornado touched down shortly after 6 p.m. local time. Officials said no injuries were reported in the city.
On Long Island, a possible tornado tore apart the Sun and Surf Beach Club at Atlantic Beach, and flooding shut part of the Long Island Expressway in Queens in both directions.
Timeline
Forecasters warned the heaviest thunderstorms would begin around 3 p.m. in Philadelphia and Baltimore and reach New York City around 5 p.m., with rainfall rates up to 2.5 inches per hour and totals of 3 to 5 inches, ABC News reported. Officials at John F. Kennedy Airport warned the weather could disrupt flights.
The weather service confirmed a tornado touched down in Dover. Sections of the roofs at the Days Inn and Super Lodge collapsed or were torn away, and doors and walls were damaged, according to CBS News Philadelphia. The Delaware Electric Cooperative said more than 1,000 customers lost power in the northern part of its service area.
Debris flew across Atlantic Beach on Long Island's outer barrier as what may have been a tornado struck. The Inwood Fire Department said dozens of cabanas were damaged or destroyed at the Sun and Surf Beach Club. The weather service had warned of waterspouts in the area but could not immediately confirm a tornado on the beach.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman declared a state of emergency. Flash flood warnings were up in parts of eastern Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and a flood watch ran from Philadelphia to New York City until 2 a.m. Friday.
Reactions
"Best I can call it is luck," Inwood Fire Chief Josiyah Green said of the beach club, where he said no one was trapped in a cabana or had to be rescued. "Just by the grace of luck that a lot of people weren't hurt here because this beach club is a very popular place during the summer."
"There are reports of people trapped in their vehicles due to flooding in the south shore, and first responders are assisting in their rescue," Blakeman said in a statement.
Dover Police Lt. Mark Hoffman said the damage in the city looked like tornado damage. "It would certainly appear that way based on the path of travel and the amount of damage that we've had," he said.
Kuimonie Goins of Greensboro, North Carolina, was staying at the Days Inn in Dover with her family. "When it started raining, we started seeing like pieces of buildings flying, and then we started to see the tornado form, and then we ran in the bathroom because we were scared," she told CBS Philadelphia.
What's Next
Bryan Ramsey, a meteorologist with the weather service in New York, said the storm was moving east offshore Thursday evening and was expected to taper over the next several hours.
The flood watch from Philadelphia to New York City was set to expire at 2 a.m. Friday. The weather service has not yet confirmed whether a tornado struck Atlantic Beach, and survey crews rate tornado strength after the fact.
More
Forecasters had flagged the corridor from Washington through Baltimore to Philadelphia as the day's main risk area, with ZeroHedge citing warnings that while only a couple of tornadoes were possible, the atmosphere could support an isolated EF2 or stronger "significant" tornado. Flash flooding was possible from Virginia up to Connecticut, ABC News reported, and the storms hit during the evening rush hour.
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