PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Carol Falcone didn’t fully grasp the volume of damage done until the sun came up.
“This morning was the real reality of it all,” she said following Thursday morning's confirmed tornado. It started at about 12:30 a.m. in Souderton in Montgomery County and swept into Silverdale and Perkasie in Bucks County, according to the National Weather Service.
“I guess the more you think about it, the more sick you get in your stomach, but we’ll get through it.”
Falcone and others at the Hidden Springs Adult Community, near Bethlehem Pike and Route 309, were in a frenzy.
“The phone message said, ‘tornado is imminent,’ ” recalled Bonnie Giordano. Like other neighbors, she scrambled to a safe space in her house.
“The trash cans were moving on the front porch, and it just continued, but the sound was terrible,” she said. “Said to my husband, ‘Should we get to a back closet?’ Because being in a modular home, of course, it says do not be in trailers, find shelter.”
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“There was a loud noise and you could hear debris and stuff hitting the house, and the house shook,” added Peggy Diehl. “It only lasted, maybe a couple minutes. And we held up in our laundry room. It’s the most compact area to be.”
By morning, the damage was more visible: Huge tree branches fell on roofs and cars. A shed flipped on its side, and an electrical box came down with it. One house looked like part of the roof peeled off.
No one in the neighborhood was seriously hurt. Firefighters — as well as neighbors — were going door to door Thursday morning checking on residents.
Falcone is just grateful it wasn’t worse.
“The pine trees out back, the way they were growing I always thought that if a big windstorm came they would fall on my house. But they fell in an open area.”
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The tornado also hit Silverdale in Bucks County, damaging a house on the property of Bolton’s Farm Market on Main Street, which was built in 1704.
Owner Torrie Bolton said it was a frightening moment.
“It was loud,” she said. “We got the tornado warning, and we don’t usually pay attention to those. But we thought, ‘Well, you know, maybe we better.’ So we went downstairs and we were in the sunroom and we were sitting there and there was no wind at all. And all of a sudden, it got windy and windier and thought, ‘This isn’t good.’ And then we heard the whoosh.”
Bolton said part of the roof was blown off, so they rushed into the basement. The market was unscathed and no one — not even the turkeys on the farm — was hurt.
“Amazing, I know,” she said. “We’re so thankful. I mean, a roof, you can fix.”
Family members came by around 1 in the morning to move the tree and cover the roof. Throughout the day, many loyal customers also checked in to see if they could help.
Why all the tornadoes? In part, blame the heat and humidity
"It's been a really busy back to back years regarding tornadoes in this area," National Weather Service Meteorologist Mike Grose said. He cites the summer heat and humidity we've faced this summer as a big reason why 15 tornadoes touchdown in the Philadelphia area before early Thursday morning.
"Part of it has to do with how humid and how hot it is this summer, especially that high content heat that's been there through July, and then continued this month into this month of August," he said. "That helps fuel the storms and the conditions are right into the atmosphere to produce some tornadoes."
Grose explained that we shouldn't expect sweater weather for a while, so the threat still remains for tornadoes in the Delaware Valley.
"People really need to be prepared, stay weather aware and be ready to take action if a warning is issued," Grose added.