No tornadoes, but severe wind from thunderstorms brings down trees in Delaware

Thunderstorms Friday afternoon knocked over trees or snapped their limbs in parts of Delaware, damage the National Weather Service thinks came from straight-line wind. 

Areas around Bear, Odessa and Smyrna reported storm damage, but National Weather Service Meteorologist Jonathan O'Brien said it's unlikely any tornadoes touched down. O'Brien said damage in Maryland and Pennsylvania doesn't look like it came from tornadoes either.

But when the wind is blowing, meteorological descriptors aren't front of mind. 

"The whole place shook," said Jay Koch, who lives in Hunters Run south of Bear. 

Koch had one small tree snapped in half, but around the corner a line of six trees fell over together behind Victoria Hansley's house. She wasn't home when they toppled. 

"I was at the gym. I didn't even realize it," Hansley said. "I went inside and went to go do laundry, and I noticed there was a lot of sun in the back. The whole back was just done."

A few residents in the adjacent communities of Hunters Run, York Farms and Mariners Watch had trees knocked down or snapped, but all live in the path of what apparently was a straight line of northeasterly wind. Most of the neighborhoods were damage free.

So chainsaws and wood chippers hummed Saturday morning, but only on a few blocks.

"I called the insurance company," said Doug Smith, whose trees outside his Mariners Watch home had many snapped branches. "What are you gonna do? Act of God."

Delaware was under tornado watch Friday from the early afternoon through the early evening. Two tornadoes touched damaged communities in southern Delaware a couple of weeks ago.

Contact Adam Duvernay at (302) 319-1855 or aduvernay@delawareonline.com.

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