Tornadoes slammed into Anne Arundel, Eastern Shore during Tuesday’s storms

Two confirmed tornadoes touched down on Maryland’s Eastern Shore and three hit Anne Arundel County during Tuesday night’s storms, weather officials said, leaving a trail of damage behind.

Weather officials confirmed three tornadoes hit Anne Arundel County on Tuesday. Dan Hofmann, a meteorologist with the Baltimore-Washington office of the National Weather Service, said there were two EF-1 tornadoes with 100 mph winds between Cape St. Claire and Arnold and another in Lake Shore.

There was also an EF-0 tornado with 85 mph winds in the Riviera Beach area around the Orchard Beach, Clearwater Beach and Sunset Beach neighborhoods, Hofmann said.

The National Weather Service said EF-0 and EF-1 tornadoes hit Talbot County on Tuesday. The EF-1 winds peaked at 90-100 mph, while the EF-0 peaked at 70-80 mph, weather officials said.

“County emergency management personnel are conducting damage assessments throughout the affected areas today to document impacts and gather additional information,” Talbot County officials said in a news release. “Residents are encouraged to use caution around damaged trees, downed power lines, and debris.”

On the western side of the Chesapeake Bay, at least one EF-1 tornado touched down in the Lake Shore area of Anne Arundel County and tornado damage was observed elsewhere nearby, according to Hofmann.

“That’s where the most substantial damage colocated with rotation signatures on radar,” he said.

Much of Maryland was at risk of damaging winds, severe thunderstorms and flash flooding throughout Tuesday.

Roughly half an inch to an inch of rain fell across the region, Hofmann said, with 2.5 to 4 inches of rain falling in Baltimore and Dundalk.

“There was one thunderstorm that popped up and then additional thunderstorms that came in from the west, so they kind of got hit two if not three times,” Hofmann said.

Parts of the city and Baltimore County experienced flash flooding, and Hofmann said the weather service received reports of golf ball-size hail in the city’s Highlandtown neighborhood and in the Dundalk section of the county. Downed wires and trees closed Baltimore County roads well into Wednesday.

As of 7 p.m. Wednesday, Baltimore Gas and Electric was reporting that about 2,400 customers remained without power, down from roughly 32,000 on Tuesday night. The vast majority of affected customers should see service restored by 3 p.m. Thursday, hours ahead of schedule, the utility said.