SUSSEX COUNTY, Del. - Sussex County continues to reel from the devastation of an assumed tornado that touched down Saturday evening. One person is reported dead after being found in a collapsed home southeast of Greenwood following the storm.
The Delaware Emergency Management Agency says the likely tornado carved a 14-mile swath of destruction from Bridgeville to Ellendale, affecting at least two to three dozen homes. Multiple state agencies and volunteer groups are actively responding Sunday.
The National Weather Service has dispatched meteorologists from their Mount Holly, NJ office to assess the damage in order to determine the size and magnitude of the storm. That initial assessment is expected from the NWS later today. Until that report is completed, the status of the storm as an official tornado is pending.
Local communities were quick to act and unite in the aftermath, with some gathering at a grocery store in Bridgeville this morning to both assist in clean-up and donate supplies. Officials requested volunteers bring anything they can to help, including trailers, trucks, chainsaws, rakes, and shovels.
A call center has also been activated by the Delaware Department of Health and Social Services for anyone affected by the severe weather. The center will be open until 5 p.m. today and can be reached at 1.866.843.7212.
Multiple videos and pictures of the destruction have been posted to social media and sent to WBOC by viewers. Heavy damage was evident including downed power lines, overturned irrigation systems, felled trees, and stripped roofs.
The likely tornado originated from a powerful single supercell that formed ahead of a rapidly moving squall line on Saturday. As it passed over a Bridgeville weather station around 6 p.m., the storm’s winds were recorded at 98 miles per hour.
According to the NWS Mount Holly, if Saturday’s storm is confirmed as a tornado, it will have been Delaware’s first deadly tornado since July, 1983, when an F2 struck near Hartly.
