Tornado in Delaware: Investigators confirm 3rd twister of the week touched down Friday

CLARIFICATION: This story was originally published Monday. The National Weather Service on Tuesday confirmed a third tornado from Tropical Storm Isaias, bringing the total to four tornadoes for the week.

After surveying storm damage over the weekend, the National Weather Service determined a tornado touched down Friday night in northern Delaware.

It was the third tornado to hit Delaware last week, landing three days after a twister spawned from Tropical Storm Isaias and tore through the First State for nearly 30 miles.

Although Friday's tornado lasted less than half as long (about 3.8 miles over 11 minutes), it still dealt Delaware significant damage. Fallen trees put as many as 14,000 households and businesses out of power and blocked several roads near Hockessin, Greenville and Centreville.

As of 3 p.m. Monday, more than 2,000 Delmarva Power customers were still without power. The company estimates all customers will have power restored by 11 p.m. Monday.

ISAIAS: The harrowing tales of when a record-breaking tornado touched down in Delaware

The tornado touched down around 5:40 p.m. close to Ashland Nature Center near Brackenville and Barley Mill roads near Hockessin, according to the National Weather Service. It continued east, knocking multiple trees down on Pyles Ford and Campbell roads and causing damage along Kennett Pike between Kirk Road and the entrance to Wilmington Country Club.

The tornado continued through the country club, damaging about 200 trees, before lifting at 5:51 p.m. near the Rockland area and Concord Pike.

Trees snapped at the trunk, the National Weather Service said, and one tree fell onto the roof of a house. Winds reached 105 mph.

This isn't the first time Delaware experienced at least three tornadoes in a single year. The state confirmed six tornadoes in 1992; five in 1975 and 1993; four in 1967 and 1994; and three in 1977, 1984 and 1989, according to state data. 

The Delaware Environmental Observing System recorded 1.03 inches of rain in five minutes at its Greenville station near Winterthur, a rain event that state climatologist Dan Leathers said would be expected to happen about once every 1,000 years. That's according to the NOAA Atlas-14, the document that the National Weather Service uses to examine these types of events.

More than 4 inches of rain fell at that station in Greenville in 30 minutes. Areas in Hockessin and Claymont saw more than 3 inches, and localized flooding was reported all over the county.

Gary Stockbridge, region president of Delmarva Power, said Sunday the storm caused more damage to the power grid's central system in northern Delaware than any other recent event, forcing lineworkers to rebuild large swaths of the system before servicing individual homes and neighborhoods.

Ahead of Isaias, Delmarva Power had called in backup from power companies across the country whose service areas were outside the storm's predicted path. Many of the companies left Delaware on Friday morning, only to be called back for the third tornado.

"I've never seen anything like it," Gov. John Carney said Sunday while touring a Delmarva Power job site near Greenville. "It's a bigger event than most people realized and it was back-to-back."

Contact Brandon Holveck at bholveck@delawareonline.com. Follow on Twitter @holveck_brandon.