BALTIMORE, Md. — Communities in Southeast Baltimore and Baltimore County are still in clean-up mode after Friday night's EF1 tornado and severe thunderstorms. The National Weather Service confirmed the tornado touched down in Federal Hill at 5:51 p.m., and ripped through Canton before heading to Dundalk. The NWS estimates it lifted out of the area by 6:01 p.m.
Baltimore Gas & Electric is still working to restore power to about 460 customers, as of 4:30 p.m. Monday. Power came back on for most customers late Sunday night. BGE says a total of 74,200 customers were impacted by the storm.
At Merritt Clubs Canton, the tornado tore off part of the facility's roof, creating a terrifying couple of minutes for people inside the gym at the time.
Hear how Canton is recovering from Friday's tornado
"The part of the club that was affected was the old boat warehouse that had been built probably in the early 1900s," Donyel Cerceo, marketing director for Merritt Clubs, told WMAR-2 News on Monday. "Our team reacted calmly. Our members - you know, no one's, I don't think, seen something like this in Baltimore City before."
Fortunately, no one was injured. A sign posted at the entrance to the gym says the building is condemned, but Cerceo said don't let that scare you if you're a member there.
"That's only the word that they use [to mean] that the building can't be occupied. The building has been re-inspected, and there's been no structural damage. So we have crews working onsite to make this repair quickly, and we expect the club to open back up again in a timely manner," Cerceo said.
At Canton Waterfront Park, downed trees and snapped branches still littered the area. Landscaping crews were there Monday afternoon clearing debris.
Even places that weren't in the tornado's direct path of destruction, were not immune to Mother Nature's wrath.
"I just looked out the window and rain was coming down sideways. There were chairs going down the street. It was crazy," Bethany Fisher told WMAR-2 News' Elizabeth Worthington. "Then we heard the transformer pop, and that was it. The lights were out. The walk-in was down. The ovens were down."
Bethany's Bakery in Cockeysville lost power for 11 hours. It might not seem like a long time, relatively speaking, for her business - that's precious time. She's still tallying up her losses.
"We are probably at at least 5 or 6 trash bags full of spoiled food," Fisher said. "We are still taking inventory. The next day, we baked off everything that we could that was in our freezer that was still good. But everything in the walk-in was pretty much done. We are stil trying to come up with a total number."
She was still able to fulfill all of her orders over the weekend, and is now very ready for a nap.
As the clean-up continues, and damages are assessed, people who live and work in the tornado's line of fire are just grateful nobody was hurt.
"Lives can't be replaced. Buildings can. So, very thankful," Cerceo said.