Chesterfield tornado rated EF-1 with 100 mph winds
Swirling winds moved over the neighborhood just off Old York Road.
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The National Weather Service confirmed an EF-1 tornado struck Chesterfield in Burlington County Thursday afternoon with winds of 100 mph and a path length of 1.5 miles.
Swirling winds moved over the neighborhood just off Old York Road. Anthony Ballina captured the EF-1 rated tornado while his son Chris watched from the front porch, almost mesmerized by the power.
“I was like I'm finally seeing another tornado,” said Chris Ballina.
A few hundred yards away, retired Air Force Lt. Col. Raymond Russell noticed the weather changing.
“All of a sudden hail started coming down I stood right here and looked at hit my car,” said Russell.
Russell got the warning on his phone and ran to the basement.
“And I went to make the first step, and it came down on me as the roof came down, water came in on me and some of the insulation,” he said.
One-hundred mph winds tore his home apart. A neighbor found him locked in the basement and helped him out.
Neighbor Tara McCreedy also sought shelter in her basement.
“The wind was roaring exactly what everybody talks about with that loud roaring train sound that's exactly what it was,” said McCreedy.
The winds in the confirmed tornado were so powerful they picked up a backyard playset in McCreedy’s yard and threw it all the way to the edge of the property line in Russell’s yard, while at the same time leaving homes nearby virtually untouched.
Russell’s home suffered a catastrophic strike but he and everyone else in this hard-hit neighborhood made it out OK.
“Listen, that's the most important thing I'm alive,” he said.
