AP Report wrote:NEW CASTLE, Del. - Remnants of Hurricane Jeanne spawned a tornado Tuesday night near New Castle County Airport that tipped over a cargo plane, ripped roofs off nearby businesses and lifted a car off Delaware 141, authorities said.
No serious injuries were reported immediately.
The National Weather Service confirmed that a funnel cloud touched down near the airport about 4:15 p.m., and state and county police said it dipped down again on the state road before moving to a nearby industrial complex.
"It is a mess. Storms like this are not supposed to happen in Delaware. They're supposed to happen out in the Midwest somewhere," said Cpl. Trinidad Navarro, a county police spokesman.
Five of the gigantic C-130 cargo planes assigned to the Delaware Air National Guard at the airport were damaged, said guard spokesman Maj. Len Gratteri, and one was tipped onto its wing. The planes are big enough to carry 65 passengers and crew, or a cargo of helicopters or armored vehicles.
Two guardsmen in a nearby shack saw the tornado coming and ducked, but suffered minor cuts when the windows were blown out, Gratteri said. The wind tumbled a flatbed trailer kept nearby, he said.
State police were trying to find out if a vehicle was occupied when it apparently was picked up by the tornado. They found the damaged car with no one inside, said Delaware State Police spokesman Lt. Joseph Aviola.
Along Delaware 141 near U.S. 13, a blue sedan sat sideways in the road, empty and crushed on the back end. About 100 yards of fencing was torn down along the back of the airport, and metal debris was scattered in the area.
Charles Klinefelter, a sales representative for United Electric Supply near the airport, told The News Journal in Wilmington that the storm's strong winds developed into a deafening rumbling sound and the building started shaking.
"The roof got sucked off and we just ran out," Klinefelter told the newspaper. He estimated there were 100 to 200 people in the large cinderblock building. "It tore the roof right out of the building. The whole side of the building was ripped apart. Garage doors were destroyed. Trucks were turned over."
"I was pretty scared,"' Klinefelter said. "I've never been through anything like that."
Jeff Thompson, a vice president of Richards Paving Inc., told the newspaper that he saw a tornado touch down while he watched from the front window of Richards Paving Inc. near the airport.
"It formed what you typically see on a television program - a very dirty cloud," said Thompson, who grabbed the door of his building and yelled to the employees inside: "Get down, get down. Make sure you are covered."
Parts of metal roofs and an airport fence were strewn across Delaware 141, which was closed by state police after the storm blew through, Navarro said. Traffic was diverted to side roads, some of which were closed in spots because of flooding.
"Traffic is horrendous," he said.
I had never seen a tornado before today....saw it form and move across the airfield from about 1000 yards and up Route 13.
Could have been much worse since the traffic on 13 was backed up for miles.
Anyway that was close enough for me, But I wish I had my camera with me at the time. It was very impressive.