Tornado tears roof off Delaware motel as severe storms hit Northeast

A tornado caused significant damage in Dover, Delaware, tearing the roof off a motel as a powerful line of storms moved across parts of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.

(CNN)- A tornado caused significant damage in Dover, Delaware, tearing the roof off a motel as a powerful line of storms moved across parts of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.

Dover resident Reagan Coder said she heard what sounded like a train as the storm approached and immediately ran into her bathroom for shelter.

“I heard the train sound,” Coder said. “My dad always told me that when you hear a train sound, that’s a tornado.”

Damage was reported across other parts of Dover, with downed trees and branches littering the area. City authorities urged residents not to travel unless absolutely necessary.

Another resident, Julian O’Neil, described seeing a dumpster flying around outside a home during the storm.

A tornado was also spotted in Columbia, Pennsylvania, Thursday afternoon, and a state of emergency was declared shortly afterward.

The severe weather followed a line of storms that dumped heavy rain across the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. In New York City, rainfall poured into parts of the subway system.

Meteorologist Allison Chinchar said parts of Indiana and Ohio received another two to four inches of rain after some areas were hit with about a foot of rain last week, raising concerns that creeks, rivers and streams could swell again.

More than 29 million people along the I-95 corridor were under flood watches, stretching from southwestern Connecticut to tornado-hit Delaware.

Coder described the aftermath in Dover as looking like “the twilight zone,” with numerous trees and branches down.