Tornado in Germantown, Maryland, Wednesday November 5, 2003
A tornado touched down at our townhouse wednesday leaving damage to our house
and yard. My wife was in our Chevy Avalanche truck ready to go pick up Kevin at
School when all hell broke lose! Luckly my family came out of this untouched but
very shaken up about the whole event. The house sustained damage to the roof
when the exhaust pipe for the gas furnace was lifted out of the roof and thrown
forward of the house just missing my truck and hitting neighbors car. This left a 14
by 14" hole in the roof. The ridge vent was lifted and moved off its foundation. The
gutter drain pipe on the side of the house was torn off, twisted into a pretzel and also
thrown into the same neighbors car. All of our windows on the west side of the
house were punched inward tearing off their latches. This caused them to flap open
without breaking the glass! Meanwhile my wife was being shaken bad in the tuck as
a 30 foot pine tree was torn off midway up the the tree and thrown right over our
truck and landed 75 yards away! Kyle and chris and a infant my wife was babysitting
were all secure down in our basement and came through this event untouched.
Below is several news articles and pictures to share with you.
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This is looking out my front door. The house on the end there
was condemed after the window was completely blown in and
side of house was ripped off! The tornado made a right turn
here on Gallop Drive and heading left right down the street.
This is looking out my front door to my left as the tornado
also hit this end unit. The unit was also condemed by the
fire marshall. Notice there is no window in that house right
above the fire truck!! If you look closely in front of
dodge truck you will see the other half of the tree that
went flying over Debbie when she was in the turck. Also
right above
Click on the Tornado
above to hear Debbie's
Recorded cell phone
converstion in the middle
of the tornado!!!
The two pictures on the left here is our truck where Debbie
was holding on for her life. It actually moved the truck
sideways with her holding on the brakes. The tree to the right
of the truck was torn off halfway up the tree and tossed over
her. Below on the left and right is a picutre of the that tree.
This is the front of our townhouse showing
where the gutter tore off at the top.
The gutter and the furnace exhaust was ripped off at the top
and thrown down in front of the house just missing Debbie in
the truck and unfortunately slightly damaging our neighbors
car.
This the back of the house looking up at the roof. The main
Fireplace chimmeny was lifted up and bent sideways. The ridge
vent is sligtly bent upwards. To the right side of the roof is where
the furnace pipe was located. Now its just a 14 by 14" hole.
This is the backside of the house (Kyles room). This is what the
tornado did to most of my windows. I am glad the latches gave
way or our windows would of caved in and our unit would of
been condemed.
Actual picture of the storm minutes
after it hit Germantown heading for
Baltimore.
