MD Tornado Outbreak Had Residents Praying For Safety: Photos

MIDDLE RIVER, MD — Maryland's tornado outbreak injured five people and damaged dozens of homes Wednesday. Residents hid in their bathrooms and prayed that the five twisters wouldn't lift their houses airborne "Wizard of Oz" style.

The National Weather Service reported tornadoes in central Montgomery County, Columbia, southern Baltimore County, Middle River and southeast Carroll County. All were EF-1s except Eldersburg's EF-0, which is the weakest category.

The Montgomery County twister was the longest-lasting and caused all the state's injuries. Middle River's was the shortest-lived, but it was strong enough to collapse awnings and destroy sheds in a mobile home community during its seconds-long rampage.

No houses were destroyed when the 105 mph winds stormed through Williams Estates and Peppermint Woods. The burst traveled 0.2 miles, tossing a trampoline and snapping trees in its 110-yard-wide path. Some homes even shifted off their support pillars and had their skirting ripped off.

Wind Felt Like 'Roller Coaster'

Cinnamon O'Connor compared the shaking to a washing machine and felt debris slam against her house. She felt her home lift upward while she clenched onto pipes under her bathroom sink. The gusts lasted about 30 seconds, she said.

"It's almost like that feeling when you go on a roller coaster," O'Connor told Patch on Thursday. "I was kind of preparing myself to be going up in the air."

A resident since 2013, O'Connor's home was inside the thin stretch shaken by the storm's blast. The damaged area was a few houses wide and was concentrated around three blocks: Wheelhouse Road, Dahlia Lane and Roundup Road.

"I have siding damage, skirting damage, some window damage, all my downspouts on this side," O'Connor said, pointing to the mangled drains on the southern half of her house.

O'Connor also suffered roofing damage, cracked ceilings and bowed support pillars. Her home is still habitable, so she plans to stay there during repairs.

"I'm glad my house did have good tie-downs for the most part," O'Connor said. "It could've been worse."

Man Felt House 'Lift Up'

O'Connor's neighbor, Robert Wildberger Sr., was watching the Orioles game when his wife told him about the tornado warning. The couple headed to the bathroom and prayed for safety.

"Me and her were holding hands," Wildberger said. "She was praying to her mother and father, and I was praying to my father to help get us through here. As soon as I finished praying to my dad, it was gone."

The wind tore the couple's shed from its base and threw its roof across the yard.

One house window shattered. The home's metal siding was punctured. The windshield cracked on Wildberger's Jeep SUV. And his air conditioning unit was dented, putting it out of service.

"We heard the windows break," Wildberger told Patch on Wednesday evening. "We felt the house lift up about two or three times and we heard ... all the stuff slamming around."

During Thursday's clean-up, holiday decorations and an old Father's Day card were scattered in Wildberger's yard. Workers hauled everything from a Halloween skull to a St. Patrick's Day leprechaun and a bin of Easter decorations to the curb.

Wildberger has lived in Williams Estates for about 35 years and has never witnessed a storm so fierce. He's only seen them on TV.

"They always show the trailer park, and she is so fearful for it," Wildberger said of his wife. "It's just unbelievable. Still in shock."

Gusts 'Sounded Like A Train'

Neighborhood resident April McKissick strolled the streets moments after Wednesday's storm to survey the aftermath. Her house wasn't damaged, but she witnessed the action.

"It sounded like a train was coming through," McKissick said. "We muted the TV, and we heard it and I just started panicking and freaking out and grabbing my kids and didn't know what to do."

McKissick said the scene resembled a "tunnel-looking thing like 'Wizard of Oz.'"

"We looked out the door, and everything was flying around. And debris was going everywhere," she said. "Our neighbor's porch awning was down."

McKissick is grateful it wasn't worse.

"Approximately 51 homes had related storm damage and/or structural damage," Baltimore County Fire Department Capt. Leonard Stewart told Patch in a Thursday email, noting that estimates are fluctuating. "Thankfully no one was hurt or injured. Red Cross was at [the] location to assist with relief."

Baltimore County asked residents to report their damage on this portal to assess community needs.

The storm left its mark statewide.

The 105 mph Montgomery County tornado was Maryland's most powerful. It traveled 12 miles from Poolesville to Gaithersburg between 7:14 p.m. and 7:42 p.m., lifting and re-landing once. The maximum width was 125 yards.

Seven houses directly east of Gaithersburg City Hall were condemned after trees and branches fell onto them. A large oak tree with a trunk about 3 feet wide crashed into a house on Dogwood Drive, hospitalizing five occupants. Power lines also snapped at the Seneca Water Resource Recovery Facility in Germantown.

Carroll County was next up with a twister running 4.4 miles between 7:59 p.m. and 8:13 p.m. It spun through the Eldersburg and Gamber areas at 100 yards wide. The 85 mph gusts knocked a tree into a house and shredded another's siding.

Columbia's vortex made landfall at 8:31 p.m. and spun for 2 minutes. With 95 mph gusts, it traveled a mile in the Long Reach village and stretched 75 yards wide. About a dozen parked cars were damaged by trees, and roofing fascia peeled off of one townhome.

The fourth tornado landed in Arbutus at 8:45 p.m. The 175-yard-wide force traveled 2.4 miles to Halethorpe in 7 minutes. There was one break where it receded to the sky and dropped again. A power pole was twisted at its base, and four warehouse doors blew out from the 105 mph winds.

Crews rescued 10 people Wednesday who were stranded in Harford County floodwaters. The area was drenched with about 7 inches of rain that flooded Aberdeen and Aberdeen Proving Ground North.

Maryland had 3,714 power outages, including 1,575 in Baltimore County, by Wednesday at 11:45 p.m. That dropped to 338 outages statewide as of Thursday at 11 p.m.

"I'm just glad that everyone's alive," McKissick said after the Middle River twister rounded out the mayhem.

Related:

• Tornadoes Touch Down In MD, Rescues In MoCo: County
  
• 10 People Rescued From Cars During Storm's Rapidly Rising Floodwaters
• 2 Tornadoes Strike Montgomery County: Emergency Officials