Pa. Residents Believe A Tornado Touched Down Just Across The Md. Line

NEW FREEDOM, Pa. (WJZ) -- Severe weather strikes Maryland. Tuesday night's storm might have generated a tornado just over the Maryland state line.

Alex DeMetrick has more.

When Tuesday night's storm hit, parts of the town of New Freedom took a hard hit.

Wind blew hard enough to punch a hole through the brick wall of a house and send huge trees crashing into yards--some just missing homes.

Sitting directly above Maryland, the Pennsylvania town of New Freedom rode out some wild weather Tuesday evening.

"You know you hear all the stories, like it's a train coming through the house. That's exactly what it was," said Kellie Matthews.

"And my husband yelled get in the basement and we grabbed the kids and dog and got in the basement," said Kate Alwine.

The weather service will ultimately figure out what hit. But with the tops of trees twisted off, many believe a tornado blew through.

"It's amazing that we're all alive and that nobody really got hurt," said Suzie Blake.

"It was like the air was just falling straight down. It was unbelievable. Once I saw pieces of houses flying, you knew it was pretty serious," said Ronnie Kirchner.

Damaged Porta-Potties speak to the timing of the storm. They were left over from a town carnival held last week.

"And we had the big rides and everything there. And trying to get people out in something like this, it would have been a disaster. So we were very, very fortunate," said Kerry McKnight.

Luck won't help with the town's electricity. Wires are down everywhere. The only power is generators for critical appliances.

"We have two refrigerators and a freezer and some cell phone batteries we're charging," said Sandy Neal.

Restoring power could take a couple of days yet.

Final determination of a tornado comes from inspectors with the National Weather Service.

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