DOVER, DE - Volunteers spent Friday offering aid to those impacted by Thursday night’s extreme weather that damaged the Super Lodge and Days Inn on North Dupont Highway
Although damage in Kent County is extensive, no injuries have been reported. Much of that damage is visible to motorists on Route 13 driving through Dover.
Dover Police Department spokesman Mark Hoffman tells WBOC News that crews worked late into the evening Thursday to clear the roadway. Debris from the two hotels still littered the road sides Friday.
Hoffman also confirmed that power had been restored to all intersections where traffic lights had gone out.
Amid cleanup efforts, community members stepped in to help those affected by the storm.
Volunteers provided food, water and supplies to occupants displaced from their hotel rooms in the wake of the storm.
“To have them go through this trauma,” volunteer and a District One Commissioner for the Dover Human Relations Board Justina Brinkley said. “You know it only seemed right and befitting for us to come together."
Larry Heverin braved the storm inside a room at the Days Inn with his wife and two young kids.
"I've been through a couple of accidents,” Heverin said. “ Never nothing like that. It was bad."
Like many of the Days Inn rooms, Heverin’s was littered with shards of glass from the broken window and other pieces of debris that blew in from the outside.
The storm left each occupied room with its own story of the tornado's impact. Many guests were moved to undamaged rooms.
While Route 13 is clear, officials urge motorists to remain cautious, as cleanup is expected to take days in Dover.
