Tornado damages Annapolis as severe storms move through
ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Chuck Jeffries, an assistant volleyball coach at South River High School, was on the way to a practice he didn’t know had been canceled when the sky became abruptly ominous. He was about half a mile away.
“I’m heading east on (Maryland Route) 214, and I see that funnel cloud from my right to my left. I never seen a live tornado before, but it was obvious to me it was a tornado,” he said. “So I pulled over and watched it pass.”
As soon as it passed, calmness persisted. Then, he drove a little farther.
“Once I got closer to the school, it looked like a war zone,” Jeffries said. He recounted seeing trees and power lines down, leaves everywhere. He pulled into the parking lot. “It looked like a tornado came right up the football field.”
As he continued onto the campus, the concession stand at the football field caught his eye.
“The roof had been lifted and pushed back,” Jeffries said.
South River school athletic officials will assess the field damage Thursday, Athletic Director Dave Klingel said. The school’s football team is scheduled to host a game Friday evening.
A tornado was confirmed via radar in Annapolis around 2:15 p.m. Wednesday the National Weather Service said, as the remnants of Tropical Depression Ida reached Maryland, bringing with them powerful storms. Meteorologists warned the tornado could follow a path through Annapolis, Arnold and Severna Park.
Anne Arundel County Fire Department and mutual aid agencies are investigating storm damage in the county, which sustained substantial damage, according to the department. There are no reported injuries.
North of the high school, a portion of West Street in Annapolis was closed Wednesday afternoon due to a utility pole blocking both directions of traffic after the tornado blew through the city and caused damage to the area.
In the immediate aftermath of the storm, gas meters were ripped off West Street businesses and trees were knocked down in the Annapolis Gardens neighborhood on Bowman Court, police said.
In addition to South River High’s stadium, the Center for Applied Technology South was also damaged, but the harm seems to be cosmetic, not structural, Anne Arundel County Public Schools Spokesman Bob Mosier said. ”I would label it as significant,” Mosier said.
He said no injuries have been reported. School employees have been released from work, he said. AACPS has workers headed to the scene to assess damage.