WASHINGTON -- With much of the D.C. region under the risk of severe weather, the National Weather Service issued tornado, severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings Friday evening for parts of Maryland and Virginia.
Full Article HereIt's not too often I get a chance to talk about news I've experienced first hand. Several storms have rolled through the area today ahead of a cold front, leading to a mass outbreak of severe weather today. Throughout the late afternoon/early evening hours, multiple tornado warnings were issued in the area. As of now, I am aware of two confirmed tornado's touching down, one in southeast DC, the other just to the east of where I am in Bowie, MD. The Bowie tornado actually took out power here for about 2000 BGE customers around 17:30. Power here was restored about around 18:45. The severe/tornado activity has moved on to the east of the area, with a final line running through the area right now. The primary threat at this point is flash flooding. The entire I-95 corridor is under a flash flood warning, from Washington, DC, to Baltimore, MD. I live in a high area, and with the tornado threat over, I'm in no danger at present. I had a scare earlier when the Bowie tornado took out the power here, but there hasn't been any damage to the immediate area.
The last major outbreak of tornadoes in this area occurred on 9/24/2001. The tornadoes of this day were responsible for the deaths of two University of Maryland students in College Park, and approximately $105 million (nearly $130 million in today) in damage. In this area, several buildings were stripped of siding and many trees were knocked down. Power outages in the region lasted throughout the following day while damage was being repaired.