National Weather Service confirms EF-1 tornado in Mount Airy Friday

Carroll County Times (Westminster, MD)

Nov. 04--The National Weather Service confirmed an EF-1 tornado touched down in Mount Airy Friday night, one of two that hit the state.

Kevin Witt, a meteorologist with the Sterling, Virginia, NWS office, said a team was going to survey the area Saturday to see if Friday night's storm was a tornado, or just strong straight-line winds. A tweet at about 7:40 p.m. Saturday confirmed the tornado.

"There were some bad storms that went through that area," Witt said, adding that there was enough damage and enough reports for the NWS to go out and survey.

The National Weather Service has confirmed that a tornado struck Baltimore City and County Friday night, resulting in the partial collapse of an Amazon warehouse where two people were killed, and causing heavy damage at a nearby Dundalk apartment complex.

The forecasting agency said later Saturday...

The storm dumped rain and brought high-velocity winds to Mount Airy just before 8:30 p.m. Friday. Residents reported trees and wires down, and damage to buildings.

At the T.J. Maxx & HomeGoods store in the Twin Arch Shopping Center, sections of the ceiling collapsed, Doug Alexander, spokesman for the Mount Airy volunteer fire company, said Friday night.

Three minor injuries were reported, but all refused EMS treatment and transport, Alexander said Friday. There appeared to be minor damage to the exterior of the building but nothing serious structurally, he said.

A powerful storm blew through Mount Airy Friday night downing trees and power lines and damaging some homes and businesses.

(Dylan Slagle)

Witt said the wind they saw in the Mount Airy area came in at about 30 to 35 miles per hour, with gusts potentially over 50 miles per hour. A weather spotter in Hampstead recorded a 71 miles per hour gust, but Witt said he doesn't know the equipment that was used to record it, so they don't know how accurate the report is.

Rainfall came in anywhere from about .75 inches to one inch, he added.

Carroll County Government encouraged residents with storm-related damages to contact their insurance carriers, according to a Facebook post. The county also warned of "potential scam situations that could present either door-to-door or by phone," according to the post.

Storms weren't just in the Carroll and Frederick areas Friday night. The National Weather Service also confirmed an EF-1 tornado also touched down in Baltimore, an incident that left two men dead.

The men were killed at the Amazon distribution warehouse in Southeast Baltimore which partially collapsed Friday, The Baltimore Sun reported.

A 50-foot wall collapsed at the Amazon Fulfillment Center as a storm swept through the area. One man was found under debris Friday night and taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The second man who was unaccounted for Friday night was recovered around 7:30 a.m. Saturday.

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