EF2 tornado in New Castle County, Delaware

As this tornado crossed into New Castle County, it continued nearly parallel to Routes 1

and 13 on the east sides of Townsend and Middletown. Numerous trees were snapped or uprooted along portions of

Blackbird Landing Road and Gum Bush Road in Townsend with some

damage to roofs. A garage at a residence on Blackbird Landing Road

was destroyed. The tornado then damaged homes in Middletown along

Spring Hollow Drive. In this neighborhood, some homes had roof

material and siding blown off with numerous trees uprooted.

Several garage doors were blown out and one home had an entire

side wall blown off. One picture showed a home with a missing

exterior corner walls on the second story.

The tornado continued north northwest to the Summit Bridge area

just south of the C and D canal. It is here where substantial

damage occurred to several homes, including one home that had more

than half of its roof completely torn off with a neighboring home

losing several sections of their roof. Some other homes lost a

portion of their roof and siding was torn off with a garage door

blown in, along with several trees down or snapped. The tornado

crossed the canal and tracked near Lums Pond and through an

adjacent wooded area where pictures and areal footage showed a

clear path with numerous trees down. The tornado then crossed

Route 896 and into the Brennan Estates where hundreds of trees

were down or uprooted and around a dozen homes sustained enough

damage that they were declared as uninhabitable. The tornado then

looked to have lifted prior to crossing over into Cecil County

Maryland.

Based on the damage to the homes in the Middletown to Summit

Bridge to Brennan Estates areas especially (some non-tree related

damage), the rating of this tornado was increased to 115 mph which

is equivalent to an EF2 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale. Doppler

radar data showed a continuous and well defined rotational

signature and also a tornado debris signature.

This tornado path length set a new record in Delaware, greatly

surpassing the previous tornado path length record of 13 miles

which occurred in 1988.

Tropical Storm Isaias brought high winds, heavy rain, several tornadoes, and coastal flooding to the mid-Atlantic region, becoming the most impactful tropical cyclone to impact most of the region since Sandy in 2012.