Tornado Watch, Philadelphia: Hail, Severe Winds Damage Homes In Morgantown, Berks County

A tornado watch was issued for several parts of Pennsylvania by the National Weather Service (NWS) as a twister touched down in Berks County on Tuesday afternoon.

The watch was supposed to stay in effect till 10 p.m. EDT in Philadelphia and the surrounding counties, including Berks, Lehigh Valley, the Poconos, and parts of other neighboring states like New Jersey and Delaware. The NWS added that storms expected Tuesday afternoon and evening would be accompanied by “locally damaging winds and large hail.”

Berks County resident Charmaine Bacallao captured a video of the tornado that touched down in Morgantown, Tuesday:

The twister ripped apart a dozen homes in the area, uprooting trees and damaging cars. By 9 p.m. EDT, a number of people in the town were without power, as emergency workers surveyed the damage and boarded up the properties.

“It’s a tornado right outside of our house. Look at the funnel!” one anonymous woman told CBS Philly, while another resident said, “Something hit the corner of the car and it was really loud.”

There were also reports of hail in some areas in Berks County:

Caernarvon Township Police Department Chief John Scalia confirmed there were no injuries in the area where the tornado hit. “When you drive around see the destruction, you realize how lucky we are nobody was hurt,” Scalia said.

A hazardous weather outlook issued for east central, northeast and southeast Pennsylvania on Tuesday predicted that although “storms will be ending overnight, but an isolated severe storm is possible through the early overnight hours.” It further added that “another round of severe storms is expected Wednesday afternoon and evening. Damaging winds and torrential rainfall are the primary threats. Localized flooding may occur with the strongest storms.”

The daytime high temperature was around 81 degrees Fahrenheit (27 Celsius) Tuesday, and it will continue in the mid-80s Wednesday and Thursday, and in the upper 70s on Friday, according to the forecast.

So far there have been 16 confirmed tornadoes this year in Pennsylvania, which is more than the state has had in all of 2018. And the peak season for severe weather is yet to arrive this year, which typically happens in June and July.

As a severe storm system swept through Indiana and Ohio on Memorial Day, there were reports of one dead and more than 90 others injured due to its impact. According to forecasters, 53 tornadoes touched down across the nation Monday, continuing an unusual pattern of outbreaks this year.