The National Weather Service concluded on Friday that the remnants of Hurricane Ida produced one of Maryland’s strongest tornadoes in the past decade.
Winds peaked at 125 mph as the tornado traveled through Anne Arundel County and Annapolis, the state’s capitol, Wednesday. Only four other EF2 or stronger tornadoes have occurred in the state in the past 10 years, the weather service said.
One resident said Wednesday’s twister sounded like a freight train.
Significant structural damage to homes, businesses and a school were reported, but thankfully, no injuries were reported — even as the tornado tracked through heavily populated areas.
Several eyewitnesses told the weather service they received warnings on their cellphones and began sheltering in response.
Dozens of trees were uprooted and large branches were snapped in a path that started in the southwest and continued to the northeast.
While several homes lost portions of their roofs, one home in the middle of the track was unroofed entirely.
“A fast-food restaurant had its sign entirely removed from its post. Another commercial building had its roof removed, significant upper portions of the cinder block building removed, and its large commercial sign post blown over,” the weather service reported.
Windows were blown out of a strip mall and telephones with attached wires were downed.
A secondary tornado was produced “by the same supercell” that traveled through Edgemere, but reported damages were significantly less.
Building inspectors in Annapolis determined there were 38 people displaced with three destroyed buildings, 24 condemned buildings, 26 structures with major damage and 49 buildings with minor damage.
Those numbers are expected to rise.
