Before dawn Monday, in the dark of night, a powerful EF2 tornado tore a six-mile path through Sussex County, Del. The twister injured one person and seriously damaged more than a dozen buildings.
The National Weather Service said the tornado traveled from Laurel to Seaford, Del., touching down at 3:38 a.m. Monday and remaining on the ground for about seven minutes. Its size varied between 50 and 400 yards wide, and its winds peaked at 120 mph.
This part of rural southern Delaware is roughly midway between Bridgeville and Trap Pond State Park, close to routes many Washingtonians use to reach the Delaware beaches of Lewes, Rehoboth and Bethany.
“One barn was destroyed,” the Weather Service report on the storm said. “A tree fell on a house, resulting in one injury. In addition, there was roof damage to several other homes and barns. Many trees were uprooted along the tornado path, and a few were snapped.
The Laurel Fire Department reported multiple road closures in the area because of downed trees and power lines. Hundreds of homes and businesses were still without power, and some schools in Laurel closed for the day. Power had been restored to hundreds of the thousands households that lost electricity.
Kim McWilliams of Laurel was sleeping when the roof was torn off her bedroom. “It was a loud whistle and then like a roar, and it was terrible,” she told Philadelphia’s CBS affiliate.
Tornadoes are rated on the Enhanced Fujita (EF) scale, ranging from 0 to 5 based on intensity. EF2 twisters, the rating given to the Delaware storm, pack winds of 111 to 135 mph. The last EF2 tornado to hit the state struck Sept. 28, 2004.
Monday’s tornado was the first in Delaware since June 19, 2017. Since 1954, 63 twisters have touched down in the state, or an average of about one per year.
The tornado was generated by the powerful storm system that swept across the South over the weekend before slamming the East Coast. In all, the storm spawned more than 50 tornadoes from Texas to Pennsylvania, the biggest outbreak of 2019 so far.
by Jason Samenow (2019, Apr 16) The Washington Post
