Baltimore City Cleans Up After EF1 Tornado
BALTIMORE (WJZ)--Now that we know a tornado ripped through part of Maryland this week, the focus turns to the clean up. The EF1 storm caused serious damage to hundreds of apartments and homes in Baltimore county and city.
Mike Schuh talked with people about the massive cleanup they are facing.
The National Weather Service confirmed what everyone on the ground already knew.: the storm that passed through parts of Baltimore city and county on Wednesday was an EF1 tornado with straight line winds.
Clean up in Baltimore County, cleanup is nearly complete. Most trees missed the nearby homes. But less than a mile away,"it's going to be a long day," said Kelly Juan. "It's goina be a very long day."
Juan is helping his mother move to a near apartment in the same complex.
"It's a lot of people that got to move some things," Juan said.
People like Marvin McMillan.
"To me this is a disaster and I didn't expect this," McMillan said.
Some 75 people like McMillan came to the Red Cross emergency center for help.
"The majority of what we're seeing right now are the people who've been in the buildings that have been condemned," said Cyndi Ryan, of the Red Cross. "What they need are easy items. They're looking for food. They're looking for replacement clothing cause they can't go back into their buildings right now. So, Red Cross is making sure that we're meeting those needs."
While the owners of the wrecked or condemned apartments have people telling them about the prospect of rebuilding, the people living in the apartments already are.
"This is God's work—what happened," McMillan said. "We goina make it through though, you know?"
The city reports that most people have secured permanent apartments already either through city, the apartment complexes or on their own.
The city and Red Cross emergency center at Lewis High School will reopen Saturday and Sunday.
