Halloween

A Tornado Touched Down in Delaware County on Halloween

An EF2 tornado struck Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, late Thursday night, the National Weather Service says

What to Know

  • An EF2 tornado struck Glen Mills, Pennsylvania, late Thursday night, the National Weather Service says
  • The Chelsea Court neighborhood was hard hit.
  • County officials say no one was hurt.

A tornado tore through the Philadelphia suburbs as a severe storm system moved through late Halloween night.

An EF2 tornado packing winds between 111 to 135 mph, touched down in Glen Mills, the National Weather Service said late Friday morning.

"The tornado was embedded within a swath of straight-line wind damage," the Weather Service said.

At least one family in the Chelsea Court neighborhood hid in the basement as the storm damaged their home.

About two dozen homes were damaged, some had walls torn off. Others had windows and roofs torn off.

One woman found leaves from the storm in her home once she was able to get back inside. Others still haven't been able to access their damaged homes.

The American Red Cross set up a shelter to help displaced residents.

Thursday’s late-night storm forced people out of their Glen Mills homes in the middle of the night due to strong winds and heavy rain. Residents are being assisted by American Red Cross while they wonder if it was a tornado that hit.

No one in the Glen Mills area was injured, county officials said while declaring a state of emergency late Friday morning.

The National Weather Service survey team is working on a full report about the twister.

SEPTA Lines Suspended

Warminster: Service has resumed normal operations with residual delays of up to 25 minutes in both directions.

Lansdale/Doylestown: Service has resumed to Doylestown with residual delays of up to 30 minutes in both directions.

West Trenton: Service is operating with delays of up to 40 minutes in both directions due to weather-related signal issues.

Paoli/Thorndale: Service is suspended due to a downed tree currently reported near Wynnewood Station blocking all rails. 

Norristown High Speed Line: Train service is suspended between Radnor Station and the Norristown Transportation Center with service operating every 20 minutes between 69th Street Transportation Center and Radnor Station.

Hard Hit by Storms

Besides Glen Mills, Ambler, Montgomery County, and Warminster, Bucks County, were also hard hit.

In Ambler, it took crews more than an hour to rescue an older couple trapped in their bedroom by a fallen tree.

Between Ambler and Horsham, four people were hospitalized, Montco officials said.

In Warminster, trees fell onto wires, leaving the community in the dark, and onto some homes. By early afternoon about 4,500 customers in the town were without power.

Around Bucks County, there were massive power outages with more than tens of thousands of customers without power still as of midday. With power out, schools closed and traffic lights didn't work during the morning commute.

Power Outages

Around 6 a.m. Friday there were about 107,000 PECO customers without power.

Utility crews worked through the morning trying to restore power. The total number of outages was down to around 53,000 as of 2:15 p.m., with most in Bucks and Montgomery counties.

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