Officials Confirm Delaware Tornado

Folks in parts of Kent County clean up after EF-0 tornado damages homes

Heavy rains swept across Delaware Monday, damaging about two dozen homes in Kent County and leaving many without power.

And on Tuesday the National Weather Service confirmed that an EF-0 tornado with winds up to 85 mph touched down as violent storms passed through the area.

The storm Monday afternoon ripped siding and shingles from homes in Camden and caused small trees to snap. Camden-Wyoming Fire Chief Tom Rigsby says four homes were seriously damaged.

Cell phone video obtained by NBC10 shows a fast-moving storm with dark, spinning clouds.

Those who saw it coming ran into their homes and ducked for cover.

"When we went in, I shut the sliding doors and something hit the house so hard and we just dropped to the floor," said Jean Hanacek.

Casey Sadlowski of Dover was on his way home and stopped to take video of the storm as it traveled North into Camden.

"The sky was just twirling," Sadlowski said. "You could see shingles and branches. You could see plenty of stuff flying through the air."

Amazingly, no major injuries were reported.

While it was over in a few seconds, the storm caused considerable damage, tearing off roofs, shattering windows and caving in garages.

"My whole garage is gone and my two cars are in there," said Hanacek. "Unbelievable."

"The whole roof literally ripped off," said Ron Miccarelli.

All of the major damage was contained to the Barclay Farms development, a 55-and-older community.

On Tuesday residents and crews worked to repair roofs and clean up debris left by the storm.

Many residents in the county also lost power after the storm.

Jeremy Tucker, a spokesman for Delaware Electric Cooperative, says about 1,200 were without power. As of 6:30 a.m. Tuesday, only 10 outages were reported in the county. Meanwhile, Delmarva Power was reporting only one outage in Kent County and about 250 in New Castle County.


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