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Picking Up The Pieces After Thursday's Severe Weather

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Tenants in Mount Washington are looking for some cover after wind tore off the roof of their building, and for now, some can't go home.

Apartment tenant, Shomari O'Connor didn't know what hit him.

"It was a big lot of wind pressure and you could hear the glass vibrating, and then I just saw the roof pick up and slam back down," he said.

Some intense moments inside his apartment sent him running for cover Thursday afternoon with his baby girl.

"It was, it was a little surreal," he said.

Twenty-four hours later, the damage is very real. Tarps replaced what was the roof at Brook View Apartments.

As workers race to rebuild, 12 families, including the O'Connors had to pack up and go.

"I've got a feeling we're going to do a lot of grab and throw in bags and get stuff out."

He's not the only one. Forty-five miles south, storms shredded an apartment building in Washington, D.C., where flying debris smashed through windshields and buried cars. And above, power lines were severed by sheets of roofing.

The National Weather Service confirms that two tornadoes did touch down in Virginia and D.C.

In Bowie, a large tree crashed through the garage of a home and throughout Maryland, streets flooded with water.

Emergency responders rushed to multiple roadways to pull drivers back to dry land. All of them were reportedly safe after the storm.

The National Weather Service confirmed Thursday's tornado was the first to touch down in D.C. in 15 years.

The Red Cross was on scene to help tenants forced out of their homes by the storm.

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