Jun 20, 2009 8:30 pm US/Eastern
Tornado Touches Down, Leaves Damage In Essex, Md.
ESSEX, Md. (WJZ) ―
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This image was taken over Sue Creek in Middle River on Saturday afternoon.
CBS
A fierce storm tears up trees, damaging homes and cars in Essex.
Suzanne Collins reports National Weather Services believes it was a tornado that caused the damage.
The funnel cloud touched down in two places about five miles apart in the Back River area, and it left a lot of wreckage in its wake.
A waterfront home on Brown Creek is crushed by a fallen tree pulled up by what the Weather Service believes was a tornado.
The family's SUV is also smashed. The owner saw hail on the water just before it hit.
"I was exactly standing at that window at the corner shutting the window. I looked at the water, and it looked like golf balls," Stephanie Mattes said.
The storm knocked over just about every large tree on a road in Burrison's Point, and some of the residents who live on the waterfront say they believe they saw a storm cloud that looked like a funnel coming toward them.
One man had to race to get his grandchildren out of the water who were swimming.
"When it hit water, it drew the water up. It was a water spout. We saw that and got the children out and got them safe," Ernest Huffman said.
Wires were pulled down by the trees, and electricity and phones were out. People didn't know how long they would be stranded on a dead-end street covered with so many large ripped and broken trees.
Just five miles away, the National Weather Services says the funnel touched down again in a neighborhood off Marlyn Avenue.
"All of a sudden you heard roaring and trees just came flying past the window," Christine Brzezenski said. "I put the kids on the floor and got on top of them."
When a tree fell on a house in Lance Avenue, the owner wasn't home, but he was shocked when he did arrive.
"I'm only here 15 minutes, so I don't know, he's telling me I can't stay here," Raul Kalloo said.
According to the Emergency Management Agency in Baltimore County, a total of 35 houses were damaged, and one severely.
The peak wind was an estimated 90 miles-per-hour. The width was 150 yards, and the path length was five miles.
"As I looked out the back window [of my house] I saw some debris coming up and swirling around, and then I saw the whole base of the tree come right down on the house," neighbor Stan Grauer said.
"We've seen carports turned over, a lot of branches down, some shingles ripped off, so it's a good indication that something came through here, " Jay Ringgold of Baltimore County Emergency Personnel said.
Beyond Essex, there were trees down in Harford and Baltimore County.
There were also four separate car crashes on 1-95 near Bel Air.
An Edible Arrangements truck driver was delivering an arrangement on Stoneybrook Drive in Fallston Saturday when the storm pushed a tree onto his truck.
The owner of Edible Arrangement says the driver was not hurt and the company still made its delivery.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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