Rare tornado hits Bear area, causing limited damage

Why Should Delaware Care?
Tornadoes are particularly rare, especially in northern New Castle County were one touched down Thursday.

Lori Seaman said storm warnings have become so frequent that she barely gives them pause anymore — but she will now after a rare New Castle County tornado potentially struck her home Thursday.

Seaman, who lives in the Salem Woods community off Old Baltimore Pike in the Bear area, was at home when she noticed the skies getting dark. When she heard the wind begin to pick up and the rain begin the pelt her home, she figured the day’s storm had arrived.

“But then it just got louder and louder to the point where the whole house was shaking, and I just started hearing things banging around,” she recalled Thursday afternoon. “And this huge boom as the trees came down on top of the house. It was just pretty wild.”

Seaman ran down into the basement to take over, but after a few minutes of quiet she ventured outside to see what had occurred.

That’s when she saw the funnel cloud clear as day about a half mile away.

Seamen wasn’t alone, as many people captured video or photos of the funnel cloud that was visible for miles.

Thankfully, no major injuries have been reported from the storm, despite it striking a heavily populated part of the state. Damage was particularly isolated – Seaman’s neighborhood, which boasts hundreds of homes, looked rather untouched in many areas – but included a hotel and ChristianaCare Christiana Hospital in the area.

The National Weather Service confirmed that a tornado did touch down in New Castle County, but its intensity and exact track is still being determined. Crews are expected to visit the county – as well as Burlington County, N.J., where another tornado struck – on Friday to assess the damage and make those determinations.

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