BEVERLY — A tornado-like thunderstorm storm Thursday in Beverly and Edgewater Park destroyed a mobile coronavirus testing site, damaged at least one home and toppled or decapitated trees.
The National Weather Service in Westampton said it is investigating to try to determine the type of storm that caused the damage.
“We did not receive any reports of storm damage in those towns yesterday and a lot of that damage apparently already has been cleaned up,” weather service meteorologist Nick Carr said Friday.
However, he urged anyone with photos showing circular or other damage or having other pertinent information about Thursday morning’s storm to email the Westampton weather office at [email protected].
Beverly administrator Rich Wolbert reported trees falling in different directions on various streets from what he described as “gyrating” winds. “They left quite a mess,” he added.
Tents were toppled and their metal framing twisted and strewn about Memorial Field in Edgewater Park, which had erected the tents as a mobile site for coronavirius testing by the Burlington County Department of Health. No injuries were reported.
“They were in the process of administrating tests when the storm came up and they had to grab all the testing equipment and run for the cars. The tents and other cover structures were totally destroyed,” said Edgewater Park administrator Tom Pullion.
Waterfront Park in Beverly lost its sign to the storm and suffered decapitation of some of its trees there and on Cooper and Church streets.
Wolbert said the upper trunk of a gigantic front yard oak fell on the roof of the two-and-half story Colonial brick home in the 100 block of Warren Street but did not require the family to vacate despite significant damage to the main roof and a side porch and library roof.
A towering crane dispatched to the home later that day removed the trunk from the roof and cut down the rest of the tree to a stump.
Homeowner Cindy Robertson said husband Hal slept through the storm and did not feel the impact of the tree on the house.
“I was out of town at a supermarket when the storm hit, but when I drove back, it looked like was like a bomb had gone off in Beverly,” she said.
Wolbert said lightning struck and split a number of trees around the city. A tree fell at Beverly National Cemetery where military veterans are buried, taking power lines with it.
Carole Moore, proprietor of the Whitebriar Bed and Breakfast in Edgewater Park, said ornamental cherry, mulberry and other exotic trees — some 100 years old or more — and shrubs were pushed over in a circle in the back yard of a rental home she and husband William own on the Beverly riverbank.
“I think it was a tornado that came directly across the Delaware River. Only a branch caught a few shingles on a rear corner of the house, but the trees were all down, splintered in this direction, then that direction, twisted in and out with branches going in many different directions,” she explained.
Carol Comegno loves telling stories about South Jersey history and our military veterans. Her book, “The Battleship USS New Jersey: From Birth to Berth” is the definitive history of the battleship. If you have a story to share, call her at 856-486-2473 or email [email protected].
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