The two tornadoes that hit Solebury and Bensalem wrought havoc across Bucks County on Thursday night that will likely take days to recover from in the best of cases.
National Weather Service local storm reports show the stormfirst appearing in the Quakertown area with wind gusts reaching up to 53 mph at around 5:15 p.m., and reports of felled trees began coming in.
Similar damage reports were also noted in Buckingham and Upper Makefield around the same time, the storm report notes.
Rain and heavy winds would continue to build as the storm moved southeast, with its most damaging barrages on the Delaware River between New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
"To repeat, a large, extremely dangerous and potentially deadly tornado is occurring," said the alert from the NWS at 5:51 p.m.
Tornadic activity in New Hope and Solebury
Just a few minutes before 6 p.m., storm reports showed possible tornadic activity in New Hope with downed trees and powerlines.
Ten minutes after hitting the New Hope and Solebury areas, the storm hit the neighboring river towns of Washington Crossing and Hopewell, New Jersey.
Tornadoes hit Bucks:See the photos and aftermath
Tracking the power outages:Power outages in Bucks: Track outages after tornadoes ripped through area
Authorities shut down state Route 29 in Washington Crossing, around the same time downed power lines were reported on Pleasant Valley Road in Hopewell.
At least 1,200 PECO customers were without power in Solebury alone, with several hundred more in New Hope powerless as of approximately 6:30 Thursday night.
For a while, the storm seemed to calm in Bucks County as first responders worked to clear throughways blocked by trees and other debris.
A tree also reportedly crashed into a person's home in Buckingham, according to police reports.
Another felled tree closed Aquetong Road in Solebury between Mechanicsville and state Route 263.
More power outages, mostly in the area of central and lower Bucks, would leave the total number of outages reported closer to 2,400 customers.
Unfortunately, the storm wasn't done in Bucks County yet.
Second tornado touches down, this one in Bensalem
At approximately 7:10 p.m., NWS storm reports show the second tornado touched down around Old Lincoln Highway and Street Road, not far fromthe Neshaminy Mall.
The second funnel hit Faulknercar dealership buildings and continued through a nearby mobile home park on Old Lincoln Highway between Street Road and Horizon Boulevard.
Bensalem Police Public Safety Director Fred Harran said ourpeople were injured in the Faulkner auto dealership building, which was destroyed in the tornado. Another was hurt at a business nearby.
There were no injuries reported at the Penn Valley Terrace mobile home park as the storm traveled through the community,officials said.
Storm reports also show heavy wind damage to buildings on Street Road near the Pennsylvania Turnpike as the second tornado touched down.
Tornado coverage:Tornado rips through Bensalem mobile home park: 'It was here.'
Faulkner tornado:Five injured, heavy damage in Bensalem as 2 tornados touch down in Bucks County
The tornado in Bensalem comes just weeks after a 100-year storm caused a deluge of flooding in Bensalem, Bristol Borough and Bristol Township on July 12.
That storm had already caused350 individual homes, 150 apartments and 44 businesses with losses from the flood.
By 9 p.m. Thursday, PECO had reported about 6,383 customers were left without power throughout Bucks County, with Bensalem alone accounting for 1,624 of those outages.
Lower Southampton saw the highest total power outages, with 2,434 customers, nearly 28% of all PECO customers in the township, without service.
Are tornadoes common in Bucks County?
A database of historic tornado damage in Pennsylvania developed by York Daily Recordshows tornados have hit Bucks County in the past.
Tornadoes on the rise:Is climate change to blame for increase in tornadoes in Pennsylvania?
The database is a collection ofNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration historic data.
Last year, a tornado from Tropical Storm Isaias caused extensive damage in the Doylestown area, after it briefly touched down on the border of Bensalem and Philadelphia
That storm ripped out trees and tossed cars along Knights and Dunksferry roads with wind speeds estimated at upwards of 100 mph.
Solebury and New Hope had two EF-1tornadoes, which have wind speeds between 73 mph and 112 mph, in the early 1990s, the data shows.
The earlier tornado touched down around 12:45 p.m. on July 5, 1990, traveling first from Bedminster and ending around Lambertville.
The second funnel hit Solebury around 10:24 a.m. on Jan. 14, 1992, but didn't appear to travel very far before the unseasonable phenomenon dissipated.
Severe weather events have been on the rise across Pennsylvania over the past decade, according to NWS data.
There were reported 83% more tornadoes reported between 2010 and 2020 compared to the previous decade.
In 2019, an estimated 37 tornadoes in the state racked up over $2.77 million in property damage.
In 2012, the same year Superstorm Sandy hit the mid-Atlantic region, 12 tornadoes caused $9.3 million in damage.
The complete toll on these most recent storms is yet to be known.
