'Tornado' Rips Through South Jersey: Eyewitnesses

What appeared to be a tornado ripped through South Jersey Tuesday evening, causing power outages and resulting in smashed windows and flipped over cars, several eyewitnesses said.

The National Weather Service identified the weather event as a ”downburst.” Read more here: No, That Wasn’t A Tornado That Flipped Cars in New Jersey

>>Scroll down for a gallery of today’s storm photos.

Eyewitnesses throughout the region described the devastation.

One car was flipped over in the parking lot at the Deptford Mall and eyewitnesses described destruction there and nearby.

“I watched the whole tornado,” Twitter user @King_Juice_13 said. “Had to see it. Mad cars got busted windows. Watched a car get struck and flipped.”

The image of the car is attached to this post, with permission.

>>Watch: Amazing Footage of Possible Tornado In Long Beach Island

Berlin resident Christopher DiCicco reported, “Not sure how official this report is, but I can confirm a tornado touched down in the Winslow/Berlin area. Drove through it and swore I was gonna die.”

The National Weather Service has not officially confirmed a tornado but photos of funnel clouds and witness accounts were widespread online.

Tornadoes were reported on LBI as well. One person captured this amazing video.

“I was on LBI and saw with my own eyes. There were several spots of rotation,” Weather NJ Tweeted.

A Westville resident’s daughter also reported seeing the car flipped over.

“Here in Westville we got the high winds that whipped everything around blew open my windows in my house and we headed for the basement,” the resident said in an email. “About five minutes later, my daughter was leaving work at the mall and called screaming hysterically that she saw a car flip over in front of her and her car started lifting off the ground. Everyone is safe now.”

The resident added that there were tree limbs in their pool and a huge tree landed in their neighbor’s pool.

>>Related: UPDATE: Severe Thunderstorm, Tornadoes Reportedly Hit New Jersey; Tens Of Thousands Lose Power

Heather Harvey reported standing outside with her friend Tonya when the weather suddenly turned.

“We were outside with her niece and her niece’s three sons (ages 7, 5, and 1), enjoying the gorgeous weather and a day in the pool, while grilling up dinner, when literally in a split second the storm hit, like no other storm I can ever recall,” Harvey said. “Within less than two minutes time, we grabbed everything we could that needed to come inside, the children, and bolted.

“By the time we got inside, locked the door, and turned around, we found her crabapple tree had been uprooted completely, leaving a hole underneath, fallen horizontally over the still lit and cooking grill, and onto the neighbor’s fence. The grill was also turned on its side as a result of the fallen tree.”

One person reported seeing Route 295 littered with downed trees.

“I got off at Exit 16 to avoid it but was faced with back roads that were much worse off,” she said. “I had to drive over a fallen tree to get back on 295!”

“I saw the swirl cloud and everything getting pulled up,” said Megan Lopez-Cepero, a Broker/Associate at Re/Max Connection in Haddonfield. “A tree went down in my road. Firefighters were here fast. Never seen anything like this. Neighbors came to check on us.”

“I drove through it in Sicklerville to get to daycare,” another resident reported. “Never experienced anything like it before. Came home to neighborhood damage, the worse being downed trees, street lamps, fence and the trampoline flew into the neighbors house. Very scary. So happy no injuries to any neighbors and everybody is safe.”

“I live in Sicklerville, and within the first two minutes of the storm, my fence was ripped from the ground,” Shayla Campbell said.

“I was sitting at what used to be a red light when poles snapped in front of and behind me leaving me trapped in my car with power lines on my car,” said Kristy Hicks, who had to wait for emergency personnel to arrive to help her get out of the car.

Many trees were toppled near the Motivating Youth Learning Center in Williamstown, according to one resident. She said the church was not damaged.

In Hammonton, a tree fell into a house on Bellevue Avenue, according to 911_ICE. Another tree fell into a house on French Street. A police car en route to the scene was also hit by a tree, but no one was injured.

In Washington Township, a trampoline was tossed through three backyards, taking down fences and damaging a pool before coming to a rest.

Jessica Lorimor of Woodbury said there were 11 trees were downed in a four block radius.

“Multiple trees landed on houses and cars,” Lorimor said. “Power lines down. People are being told 3-4 days without power.”

“In a split second the weather changes,” Juliana Compare, of Wildwood, said. “My kids were playing basketball and then next thing you know these clouds rolled in within a minute’s time. Then the sky opened up and it started to pour. I drove the one boy home fearing it would last all night.”

A photo of what appears to be a tornado cloud that was spotted over a shopping center in Blackwood is attached to this post.

On Greentree Road in Glassboro, a giant tree fell through telephone wires and snapped a pole in half, according to resident Susan Defrance. A streetlight was nearly lying on the ground.

Other photos depict storm damage in Ocean City, Harvey Cedars, Berlin, Blackwood, Cherry Hill, Voorhees, Marlton, Medford Lakes, Hammonton, Gibbstown, Atco, Winslow Township, Washington Township, Woodbury, East Greenwich and Mantua.

Other photos depict rainbows and sunsets that beautified the skies in the aftermath of the storm.

Do you have any photos or accounts from Tuesday evening’s storm? Email me at Anthony.Bellano@patch.com with your accounts.

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