One of the more powerful tornadoes in the Washington region in recent years lifted roofs, toppled trees and chewed up buildings in Maryland early Monday near the eastern end of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge.
No fatalities were reported. One person was injured when he was punctured by debris, said the Mount Holly, N.J., office of the Weather Service. Its territory includes parts of the Eastern Shore.
In chronicling the history of the storm, the Weather Service said a waterspout developed over the bay between Annapolis and Stevensville, Md., just south of the Bay Bridge.
It moved ashore in the Bay City area of Kent Island and headed northeast, lifting in Stevensville after about four destructive minutes, leaving a two-mile track of debris reminiscent of a combat zone.
In a preliminary account, confirming that a twister had touched down, the Weather Service said the storm lifted the upper floors and roofs off several wood-framed townhouses.
Along the track, which was about 150 yards wide at points, the storm also took roofs from other houses or damaged them in other ways. On one street, a deck lay on a lawn. A railing dangled from another deck, and two-by-fours seemed to be scattered everywhere.
A business was destroyed, and gas leaks were reported along with a house fire, the Weather Service said.
Huge trees came down, some of them engulfing houses in a curtain of leaves. Globs of insulation lay on streets and lawns.
Power lines dangled and fell. Delmarva Power said late Monday that about 1,300 homes and businesses remained without electricity. Full restoration was expected by Tuesday, officials said.
Tornadoes are not rare in the Washington region, but few are as strong as Monday’s was.
A category 3 twister caused two deaths and 55 injuries in Prince George’s County in 2001, according to the Tornado Project website. A rare category 4 devastated La Plata in Charles County in 2002, causing three deaths and 122 injuries.
The tornado was spawned near the close of a sultry, stormy weekend that brought Washington its rainiest two days in the past two years.
