Cleanup Continues After 'Unprecedented' February Tornado Outbreak Hits Maryland
WESTMINSTER, Md. (WJZ) -- A day after a rare February tornado outbreak tore through parts of Maryland, residents continue to clean up the damage left behind.
Five tornadoes touched down in the state Friday morning, which was "unprecedented" for the month of February in the state, the National Weather Service said Saturday. Since 1950, there have only been four recorded tornadoes in the state during the month of February.
Despite the outbreak, no one was killed and only one person was reportedly injured by straight-line winds.
"It didn't last long but it was quick and it was nasty," Westminster resident James Richards said.
Richards' neighborhood saw numerous trees down thanks to an EF-1 twister that passed right through downtown just after 8 a.m.; he spent Saturday cleaning up the mess, including trees leaning against his home and a buckled roof.
The Westminster tornado touched down just southwest of the city near the Avondale Ridge community and tore an intermittent 10-mile path through Carroll County. It lifted northeast of the city for around four miles before dropping again near Manchester.
Another EF-1 tornado touched down around 7:45 a.m. near Monrovia in Frederick County. That tornado was on the ground for six miles, flattening a shed and barn and toppling countless trees and power lines.
Thousands of BGE customers were without power in the storm's wake; as of Saturday night power has been restored.
In Montgomery County, two tornadoes touched down nearly simultaneously just before 7:30 a.m. An EF-0 twister snapped trees and destroyed a pole barn near Boyds and an EF-1 tornado took the roof off a barn near Dickerson.
In far northeastern Maryland, an EF-1 tornado with winds of up to 100 miles per hour touched down in Elkton. That tornado was on the ground for less than a mile.