What remained of Hurricane Jeanne blew through Delaware on Tuesday, spawning at least one tornado that busted buildings, cars and planes from the New Castle area to Elsmere. Drenching rains added to the misery, causing widespread flooding, traffic jams and evacuations.
The tornado wrecked five C-130 cargo planes at the New Castle County Airport, causing thousands of pounds of jet fuel to spill and damaging hangars. It tore through an industrial area along Del. 141, sending workers diving under desks, crowding into first-floor hallways and watching transfixed as the funnel cloud tossed long strips of metal siding into the air and onto roads. Windows shattered, walls peeled away, and trees and light poles snapped.
That "industrial area along Del. 141" includes the offices of The News Journal, where I work. The tornado hit a couple of buildings over from ours. It passed through around 4:15 Tuesday afternoon, so I wasn't there at the time, but I heard firsthand descriptions of the funnel cloud from coworkers. Yeesh.
Photos of the aftermath here.
The entire Philadelphia region got hit with some pretty apocalyptic wind and rain yesterday. Flooding, downed trees, power outages, dogs and cats sleeping together. (The Inquirer has the news from the city.) The Schuylkill Expressway — Philly's main artery — only just now (6 a.m. Wednesday) reopened after being shut down last night due to a 1/3 mile mudslide and dozens of disabled, flooded vehicles.
The area between my Delco, Pa., apartment and the tornado zone got hit with 5 inches of rain over about a 6-hour period. After I found a road to I-95 that wasn't either flooded or blocked by fallen trees, the rest of my commute was one long hydroplane. It would have been pretty scary, but fortunately I couldn't see out of my windshield. Roads were drier on the way home, but still plenty of detours.
I'm going to go dry off, unclench and say a prayer for the folks who got hit the hardest. …
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