NEW CASTLE, Del. (AP/WBOC)- A tornado ripped through the New Castle County Airport just after 4 p.m. Tuesday causing damage to several planes and the airport's terminal building. The tornado also ripped the roofs off of several nearby businesses and destroyed one car on Route 141 near U.S. Route 13.

No serious injuries were reported. More than 11,000 Conectiv customers were without power late Tuesday, the utility said.

Charles Klinefelter, a sales representative for the United Electric Supply Co., told a Wilmington newspaper that winds developed into a deafening rumbling sound and the building started to shake.

"The roof got sucked off and we just ran out," Klinefelter said of more than 100 people who were in the large cinder-block building. "It tore the roof right out of the building. The whole side of the building was ripped apart. Garage doors were destroyed. Trucks were turned over."

"I was pretty scared,"' Klinefelter said. "I've never been through anything like that."

The National Weather Service confirmed that a funnel cloud touched down near the airport about 4:15 p.m., and state and county police said it dipped down again on the state road before moving to a nearby industrial complex.

Five of the gigantic C-130 cargo planes assigned to the Delaware Air National Guard at the airport were damaged, said guard spokesman Maj. Len Gratteri, and one was tipped onto its wing. The planes are big enough to carry 65 passengers and crew, or a cargo of helicopters or armored vehicles.

Two guardsmen in a nearby shack saw the tornado coming and ducked, but suffered minor cuts when the windows were blown out, Gratteri said. The wind tumbled a flatbed trailer kept nearby, he said.

The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control reports 15,000 gallons of aviation fuel spilled out.

State police were trying to find out if a vehicle was occupied when it apparently was picked up by the tornado. They found the damaged car with no one inside, Aviola said.

The United Electric Supply Co., across from the airport, also sustained heavy damage from the tornado, Aviola said, adding that vehicles in the parking lot were also damaged.

Along Delaware 141 near U.S. 13, a blue sedan sat sideways in the road, empty and crushed on the back end. About 100 yards of fencing was torn down along the back of the airport, and metal debris was scattered in the area.

Jeff Thompson, a vice president of Richards Paving Inc., told the newspaper that he saw a tornado touch down while he watched from the front window of Richards Paving Inc. near the airport.

"It formed what you typically see on a television program- a very dirty cloud," said Thompson, who grabbed the door of his building and yelled to the employees inside: "Get down, get down. Make sure you are covered."

Gov. Ruth Ann Minner was in Alaska at the Council of State Governments convention. She cut short her trip and expected to return to Delaware Wednesday.