A severe thunderstorm tore through a wide swath of Harford County Sunday afternoon, with a tornado warning in effect for nearly two hours and a funnel cloud reported in Abingdon near Interstate 95 and state Route 924.
Several fires were also reported, and a portion of state Route 543 near Chestnut Hill and Gibson roads was closed to traffic shortly after 5 p.m. due to downed trees, according to local emergency officials.
According to a National Weather Service alert, local emergency management reported a funnel cloud in Abingdon near the intersection of I-95 and Route 924 at approximately 4:45 p.m. It was not immediately clear whether a tornado had in fact touched down, or if any other funnel clouds had been reported.
Part of state Route 165 in Delta was blocked by a downed tree, with many others reported across the northern part of the county.
Calls for assistance from county fire units rose as the storm moved through the county. Wires were reported down at the 2700 block of Creswell Road in Bel Air, the 4000 block of Street Road in Street and on the 4600 block of Pulaski Highway in Belcamp. Brush fires were reported at the 3100 block of Nova Scotia Road in Aberdeen and at the intersection of Holy Cross and Grier Nursery roads in Street.
A building fire was reported on the 4300 block of Winners Circle in Belcamp after downed power lines fell on a shed located at the end of a group of townhomes and caused the shed to begin smoking, according to Rich Gardiner, spokesman for the Harford County Volunteer Fire and EMS Association.
A severe thunderstorm watch remained in effect until 8 p.m. Sunday evening, according to the National Weather Service.
From the National Weather Service:
A TORNADO WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 530 PM EDT FOR HARFORD COUNTY…
AT 505 PM EDT… NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE DOPPLER RADAR CONTINUED TO INDICATE A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF PRODUCING A TORNADO. THIS TORNADO WAS LOCATED NEAR PERRYMAN… OR 6 MILES SOUTH OF ABERDEEN… MOVING SOUTHEAST AT 20 MPH. A FUNNEL CLOUD WAS REPORTED BY LOCAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT IN ABINGDON NEAR INTERSTATE 95 AND ROUTE 924 AROUND 445 PM.
TAKE COVER NOW. MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST FLOOR OF A STURDY BUILDING AND AVOID WINDOWS. IF OUTDOORS OR IN A MOBILE HOME OR VEHICLE… MOVE TO THE CLOSEST SUBSTANTIAL SHELTER AND PROTECT YOURSELF FROM FLYING DEBRIS.
Jarrettsville and Rocks seemed to have missed the brunt, but fallen trees, limbs and debris littered Route 165 from Pylesville to Delta.
One fallen tree blocked both lanes of Route 165 just in front of the Whiteford Volunteer Fire Company.
Why weren’t we notified via phone call/text message/email from the County? I found out by accident from a Facebook post. I thought that system was supposed to be quick and help HARCO citizens?
Seriously ?!?!?!…you expect a phone call for the entire county??? They have that for the schools I know so technically I guess it could be done, but problems would still happen. People would complain they called house instead of cell phone or something…I must admit living so close to base, I heard an announcement, but that wasn’t really needed being you could feel and see it in the air.
It was also on TV, and radio. With the heat we’ve been having and this time of year, it shouldn’t have been a shocker and people need to check the weather..I’m sure there’s an app for that..if you were outside, I’m sure you could have “felt” like something was going to happen along with the dark sky at 4pm.
your name is common sense I see – perhaps you should utilize it or change your name…
@Harfordmom – tough day?
The county managed to call us before Christmas to warn everyone to stay away from Constant Friendship due to traffic. And you have an issue with getting a call about a possible tornado?
my point exactly..I didn’t get a call from the county for traffic before Christmas….I remember the traffic jam – just didn’t get a call.
Are you registered with the Harford County HarfordMom to receive the calls/emails/texts messages. Is the county supposed to know you want this info and I bet if county officials sent it to you without requesting you would ‘scream’ invasion of privacy. You sound un-patriotic HarfordMom, always complaining about government services, never offering a solution, just complaining about the system and people who run our/my country.
Actually you can sign up for Harford County’s Emergency Notification System by going to http://www.harfordpublicsafety.org or by contacting Emergency Operations at 410-638-4029. They will be able to send voice or text messages to your mobil devices or call your home phone. Apparently they will be able to send emergency messages about weather, flood, missing people or other important info. I don’t know if they sent out a message today. I know that we did not get any messages or calls. We saw the tornado warning on tv and waited it out in the basement (just to be safe). It will be interesting to find out if the people in Abingdon got any warning.
Thank you! I was wondering where I could sign up, and just did.
Common Sense is not off track/target. During the ‘W’ Bush Administration huge sums of money were spent to upgrade communication systems for Fed, State, Local governments. In the State of Maryland this stimulus/spending was targeted for the counties to spend and implement county wide notification systems to alert citizens in times of emergency.
HarfordMom you seem very angry, do you listen to Rush Limbaugh? If so that could be a source of you anger and intolerance!
Waaaaaa, nobody from Harford County called to tell me there was a storm, how am I supposed to know when it’s storming. I can not think for myself please help!
Thank you – exactly my point..
Sheeple – You are a ****. With a storm you go indoors – No ****. But with a tornado you go to the basement and get away from the windows. How the hell else do you know that one is going on? I guess keep being a **** and Darwin will eventually get you.
I did expect that we would have gotten some notice of what was going on. I also expect that sirens would sound alerting people to take shelter. I also expect that if I was at home with the TV on that some warning or interruption would have happened (didn’t with FIOS).
The county is supposed to have the communication capability to do all of this and in my mind absolutely dropped the ball. What is going on? Did the Tea Party trolls force the county to cut back so far on staffing that no one was on duty? Are we now getting the level of service that the Tea Party paid for?
My wife had employees on Sunday whose kids were being watched in Edgewood that were panicking because they were unsure if the babysitter got any warning to take more cover than and if the kids were alright.
I just don’t know how I made it almost 50 years without a phone call every time it storms? Maaaaybeeeee it’s because I have enough sense to know what can happen in a storm like that and don’t need to be told to take cover. Is there anything you can do without the county calling you first and telling you to do it? Consider this your phone call: it’s summer you could get a sunburn, bee sting, hay fever and yes heavy storms that could produce a tornado so be careful out there. The county should also call and tell you to watch who you call a jerk,idiot and a dumbass because they might just know who you are!
The sirens did go off in Harford County. They went off in Joppatowne for sure because I was there. They told us to seek shelter immediately and to head to the basement. I know for a fact that they sounded in Darlington too. What did people do before sirens, cell phones and tv? I’m pretty sure they took cover during a storm. I’m right with you Sheeple & Harfordmom. Common sense goes a long way as long as you use it and stop relying on everyone else to tell you what to do when! GROW UP!
The sirens went off in Jarrettsville, too. We were on a softball field and hightailed it home.
@ANONYMOUS – Harford County has not made any significant staffing cuts in public safety, however the employees and bureaucrats do like their weekends off.
So, I think you’d have better luck with a warning from the county Mon-Fri 10:00AM – 11:30AM and 1:30PM – 3:30PM allowing for coffee breaks, holidays, vacations, naps and porn-surfing.
Oh for God’s sake. I feel for the people that got hurt tonight. Quit digging at eachother and feel grateful that you aren’t at the hospital or planning a funeral.
I don’t know what all the complaining about not getting a phone call about the storms is about. My family got 3 calls. One to our house phone, and one each to my cell phone and my wife’s cell phone. The message said we were in a severe storm and tornado watch until 9 pm and then a warning until whenever (I can’t remember what time it said.) I got the call to my cell around 2:30 this afternoon and to my house around 2:50 this afternoon.
If you’re not signed up with the EOC to get notifications then you aren’t going to get them…
This story is about a tornado from June…2011.
Hah…that’s I get for just clicking on the recent comments rather than the actual article.