Tornado confirmed in Bucks County, NWS says
BUCKS COUNTY, Pa. (CBS) - The National Weather Service has confirmed a tornado touched down in Lower Bucks County on Saturday. This would make it the sixth tornado in our region, with four others in New Jersey and one in Delaware.
The tornado passed through Wrightstown Township around 6:45 p.m. Saturday and in Newtown around 6:50 p.m.
The National Weather Service says it was an EF-1 tornado with estimated peak winds of 95-105 mph. It was only on the ground for four minutes.
Cleanup is continuing Monday -- two days after a confirmed tornado touched down.
"I started hearing all kinds of stuff falling on the roof, so I ran down the basement like it was a tornado," Joe Madden, of Newtown, said. "Stayed there for about a half hour and then things kept falling on the roof."
Madden has lived in Newtown for more than 40 years. He says he never experienced what he did on Saturday when a tornado touched down in his development.
The storm left tree limbs across his yard and a hole in his siding.
"I did some cleanup myself," Madden said.
The NWS reports the Bucks County tornado started in Wrightstown Township and ended in Newtown – going about four miles. Peak winds are estimated to have reached 105 mph, according to the NWS.
Along Swamp road near Bucks County Community College downed wires and trees remain.
"A little town like Newtown, you never expect to actually see this," Dan Bricker, the assistant manager of Harvest Seasonal Grill, said. "You see it on the news, but it hit a little too close to home this time."
On Monday, shattered glass, broken windshields and part of a missing roof is just some of the damage left at the Newtown strip mall.
Bricker says the damaged cars belong to some of his employees.
"Just happy nobody else got hurt," Bricker said. "It's a God send there, it's hard for the staff with COVID and everything else."
Rick Rubin runs Party Fair with his family in the same strip mall. Luckily, his store didn't suffer any inside damage.
"All of a sudden the skies opened up and it became pretty dangerous, so we came to the store to make sure it was OK," Rubin said.
There have been no reports of injuries.
