High winds cause major damage to Crisfield apartment

CRISFIELD, Md. – In Crisfield,  strong winds proved to be too powerful for an apartment complex and very scary for the residents in it.

Now, officials and neighbors are starting to pick up the pieces from Friday’s severe weather.

“I’ve never experienced anything like this myself but don’t want to again either,” says Kathy Thomas, a Somers Cove Apartments resident.

Thomas peaked out her window Friday only to see a whirlwind of debris flying all over the place.

“I saw where it was taking the roof, I saw the spout itself and I saw it pulling all the roof off and blowing it across towards the apartments.”

Plywood and roof shingles filling the area and causing havoc to nearby apartments. A severe storm that no one was expecting.

“Friday night I was getting ready to eat supper and my phone went off the hook people calling me he heard a big boom and insulation flying everywhere. So I rushed down here and found half of the roof gone and debris everywhere,” explains David Richards, Maintenance Supervisor for Crisfield Housing Authority.

Some eye witnesses claim they saw a water spout, but its still unclear exactly what hit this neighborhood Friday evening.

Although one thing is crystal clear, the weather proved to be too much for this building to handle.

“We’re looking at a whole new roof, missing about seven to 10 sheets of plywood enough to replace all the insulation and treated for mold and all.”

It’s a glimpse into the scary reality that Crisfield might not be able to withstand a bigger a storm.

Richards says, “We got 50 year architectural shingles which holds up to over 100 mph winds, which the wind picked up the plywood and everything else right off the rafters so I don’t think we could handle anything bigger.”

We’re told it will be a couple weeks until this roof is fixed but in the meantime both families that we’re displaced have  temporary places to stay.