Tornado confirmed in Silver Spring

SILVER SPRING, Md. - The National Weather Service has confirmed a tornado touched down in a Montgomery County neighborhood Monday afternoon.

An EF-0 tornado with estimated peak winds of 70 miles per hour hit a stretch along Dennis Avenue in Silver Spring from 3:48 p.m. to 3:49 p.m.

The severe weather toppled several trees and power lines in the area and left tens of thousands of people in the dark for several hours until Monday night.

The worst of the storm rolled through the Northwood Park neighborhood. Two homes have been condemned due to damage caused by the weather. The roof of one of the homes caved in and a side wall appears to be off its foundation. The storm shook up some people inside the house, with two transported to an area hospital out of an abundance of caution. They are expected to be okay and have since been released.

"All of a sudden, I heard this loud wind," said neighbor Julia Kempe, whose home was fortunately not damaged during the storm. "Then over my head ... we could just hear crashing. I could hear branches falling, and I have worried that these big trees were going to come through the roof one day. But I can't believe they didn't. They just put branches all over the neighborhood and moved our trampoline across the backyard and wrapped it around a tree. Somehow, we're fine and it doesn't seem to be any leaks in the house."

"We had a number of lightning strikes -- a restaurant in Bethesda, a house in North Potomac," said Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Department spokesperson Pete Piringer. "Most of it was the Bethesda, Silver Spring areas. Of course, some heavy rain. I don't think we had any water rescues or anything like that."

The American Red Cross was also out in the neighborhood Monday evening helping the displaced families.