Tornadoes ripped through Maryland on Wednesday night, injuring at least five people and leaving behind damage and flooding.
In Gaithersburg, there were reports of three collapsed structures with people trapped inside, Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson Pete Piringer said. The most significant damage occurred when a large tree fell on a house, injuring five people, who were taken to hospitals, including one with traumatic injuries, he said. No serious injuries were reported at the other structures.
Carroll County Emergency Management reported four Carroll County houses had tree damage impacting the structure. There were no reported injuries, and no residents were displaced.
Harford County emergency services said about 150 calls for service amid the storm were made – 18 of which required special operations teams for incidents including water rescue and structural collapses.
The National Weather Service confirmed Thursday morning that in addition to Montgomery County, tornadoes occurred in Poolesville, Columbia, Arbutus and Sykesville. But there are at least six more areas that could have been hit with tornadoes, Brendon Rubin-Oster, lead NWS meteorologist for the region, told The Baltimore Sun.
“This tornado [series] was a rare one,” Rubin-Oster said. “You typically only see these type of outbreaks once every decade in terms of the number of tornadoes and intensity.”
Prior to the tornados, there was a mesoscale convective vortex, a system of thunderstorms that can create larger impacts than individual storms, in the atmosphere, causing a rotation as it traveled across West Virginia toward the Eastern Shore on Wednesday, Rubin-Oster said. Along with the system of swirling storms, there was a tropical air mass with clouds sitting low, he said. This combination of elements made for an optimal tornado environment.
‘I’ve never seen anything like this’
After less than six months in the neighborhood, Kenneth Ngoku received a rude welcoming Wednesday night when a tornado tore through the backyard of his Sarah Drive home in the Eldersburg/Sykesville area.
The entirety of the small street was ravaged with felled trees, mailboxes, scattered glass shards from windows and windshields, and couch cushions five houses away from their proper homes. But, the neighbors say, as far as they know, no one was harmed — not an adult, child, dog, cat or chicken.
The most alarming moment of the Wednesday night storm for Ngoku came around 8:30 p.m., he said, when he saw the tornado funnel approach his house, snap a tree top from its base roughly 100 feet behind his porch and send the top of the tree flying through the air into the back of his home, piercing the wall and pantry door and cleaving the latter in half.
He heard a noise “like a train, like a whistle” after the rain stopped and then ran to the stairs to call his two daughters down from upstairs to take shelter in the basem*nt. But before they could, “the branch came like an arrow into the house,” Ngoku said. It all happened in about 30 seconds, he estimated.
Another branch javelined into the outside wall of one of his daughters’ bedrooms, right near where her bed lay on the other side. She wasn’t in the room at the time, Ngoku said. Meanwhile, as the house shook, the power flickered on and off the whole evening until it finally went out.
“Everybody was scared, even me,” Ngoku said, particularly as he watched trees break off their trunks and projectile branches hurtle toward his and neighbors’ homes.
At around 8: 50 a.m. Thursday morning, crews lifted the powerline strewn across the adjacent street back into place as residents paced their lawns, speaking with insurance agents over the phone. Ngoku greeted his neighbors on his way back from Home Depot holding the chainsaw he bought to clear the wreckage that afternoon.
His first words that morning when he saw the damage in the daylight were, “Can you imagine?” he said. “Unbelievable.”
His next-door neighbor, Greg Cougnet, had a similar reaction Thursday morning. He and some of the others gathered on his driveway, marveling at the visual of the home behind them, which had a trampoline sitting on the roof. In his own yard, chickens squawked, their coop half-buried in trees not far from an entangled lacrosse net and a flattened fence panel.
Unlike Ngoku’s, Cougnet’s porch was largely unaffected, save for a clock that flew off the back wall from one side of the porch to the floor on the other side.
“I’ve been here 25 years; I’ve never seen anything like this,” said neighbor Sharon Hiles. “We’re in this little valley, and we usually do not get affected [by storms].”
Hiles’ car windshield was smashed in the storm, but both Cougnet and Hiles agreed the worst damage was to the trees, which they worry whether insurance will fully cover.
“That is an expense that is going to be extraordinary,” Cougnet said. “I’m just glad I don’t have a trampoline on my house.”
What areas were affected?
At 6:19 p.m., the NWS posted on social media the first area tornado warning of the night — for Owings Mills, Manchester and other parts of northern Baltimore County and northeast Carroll County — until 6:45 p.m.
At 7 p.m., the weather service posted a tornado warning for Towson and parts of eastern Baltimore County as well as Joppatowne in Harford County until 7:45 p.m.
At 7:38 p.m., Perry Hall, Joppatowne and other parts of Baltimore, Carroll and Harford counties got a warning until 8:15 p.m.
Maryland weather: View a map of tornado reports from Wednesday’s storms
Sykesville Fire Department spokesperson Bill Rehkopf said that around 8 p.m., a resident called swearing that they saw a tornado near their house, about 20 miles northwest of Baltimore City in Carroll County. Rehkopf said one house was significantly damaged by a tree but that firefighters canvassing the neighborhood on ATVs did not find any lingering hazards from the storm.
“We went door-to-door on a bunch of ATVs. They’re useful for getting through yards and around places where trees might block a road or power lines are down,” Rehkopf said. “There is some moderate storm-related damage but not enough that homes can’t be occupied.”
Damage from storms around Maryland | PHOTOS
A series of other tornado warnings followed:
- At 8:02 p.m., the NWS posted a tornado warning for Columbia, Scaggsville and most of Howard County, as well as Severn and most of western Anne Arundel County, until 8:45 p.m.
- At 8:07 p.m., the NWS posted a tornado warning for northwest Baltimore County, including Reisterstown, Hereford and co*ckeysville, until 8:45 p.m.
- At 8:15 p.m., the NWS posted a tornado warning for eastern Baltimore County and most of Harford County, including Perry Hall, Edgewood and Aberdeen until 8:45 p.m.
- At 8:27 p.m., the NWS posted a tornado warning for the Owings Mills area until 9 p.m.
- At 8:43 p.m., the NWS posted its first tornado warning for Baltimore City, as well as points west of the city in Arbutus and Linthicum and east in Dundalk, Essex and Middle River, until 9:30 p.m. A tornado was located over Arbutus in Baltimore County moving east at 25 mph around 8:55 p.m.
- At 9:06 p.m., the weather service recorded a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado moving east at 25 mph near Central Baltimore and East Baltimore.
- At 9:27 p.m., the NWS posted a tornado warning for eastern Baltimore County, including Middle River, Chase and White Marsh, until 10:15 p.m. Baltimore County Fire Department spokesperson Leonard Stewart said he was not immediately aware of any tornado-related calls in the county Wednesday night.
- At 9:34 p.m., the NWS posted a tornado warning for parts of Cecil County, including Cecilton and White Crystal Beach, until 10:15 p.m.
- At 10:18 p.m., the NWS posted that the tornado threat had dissipated in most of the state, barring the northeast corner of the state around Elkton.
- At 10:32 p.m., a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado was located 10 miles north of Havre de Grace moving east at 15 mph.
The NWS issued a flash flood warning following the storms for most of the state. Between 9 p.m. and midnight, high water and debris forced the close of five major roadways in Harford County. All lanes of MD Route 7 between MD Routes 543 and MD 136, US Route 40 at MD Route 22 and MD Route 7 at Fashion Way were closed. The southbound lanes of US Route 1 near Shuresville Road and the westbound lanes of MD Route 24 at Pulaski Highway were also closed.
In Baltimore County, MD 129 North/South before Hunting Tweed Drive closed around 6 a.m. Thursday due to the weather. In Cecil County, MD 222 North/South below Moore Road closed around 7:30 a.m.
Harford County closed 20 roads due to flooding and high water Wednesday night but reopened them Thursday morning.
Darnestown tornado: Tornado in Darnestown in Montgomery County on June 5, 2024. (Video courtesy of Derek Johnson via FOX45 News)
The NWS issued a coastal flood advisory for the Anne Arundel County shoreline until 10 a.m. Thursday.
Baltimore Gas & Electric only reported 106 power outages Thursday morning.
David Pazos, Montgomery County Fire and Rescue assistant chief, said there were a lot of power outages there.
“We don’t know what people’s needs are, so we’re having to go door to door to assess whether they need fire and rescue services or need relocation because of damage to their homes,” he said.
What’s next?
There is a hazardous weather warning for severe thunderstorms capable of producing damaging wind gusts in the Baltimore region Thursday afternoon.
There’s a 70% chance of rain on Thursday afternoon when temperatures are expected to be in the high 80s. Maryland Department of Emergency Management issued a severe thunderstorm watch for all of the Baltimore area until 9 p.m. Thursday night.
Sunshine should return Friday with a high in the mid-80s. Saturday is forecast to have sunny skies with a high in the 80s and a low in the 60s at night.
Columbia funnel cloud: Storm video from Howard County on June 5, 2024. (FOX45 News)
On Sunday, a slight chance of showers returns after 2 p.m., and temperatures will reach the 80s during the day and dip into the high 50s at night.
Monday will follow the same pattern with a slight chance of showers and a high near 80.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
