Vacationing with her animals in tow, Amye Clark came to Fair Hill State Park in Cecil County for some rest and relaxation this week when the remnants of Florence turned those plans upside down.
"All of the sudden, my husband and I looked over here and saw wood flying through the air and we heard the sound, and I said, 'Oh my gosh. That's a tornado,' said Clark, “So it quickly left, and the people that had the horses over there saw the boom of the roof landing and started running and we all ran and they said, 'What happened?' and I said, 'That's a tornado.'"
Natural Resources police and park service staff arrived at Race Barn 3 to find a large portion of the roof ripped from the structure and dumped on the ground nearby, and four horses emerged from the ordeal without a scratch.
"We were fortunate to have a veterinarian on site with the Fair Hill Training Center who we contacted and she came over and assessed each horse to make sure there were no injuries that had been overlooked before they decided to trailer and go home last night," said Park Manager Rachel Temby.
The National Weather Service has already seen enough evidence without visiting the site to determine what caused the damage.
"They had a report in their files that they shared with us attributing it to thunder storm winds---a straight line event," said Temby.
But William Mackie, who has spent most of his life in these parts, isn't convinced, based on his own observations.
"Kind of an orangish-yellow sky to the north of my house," recalled Mackie, "They always told me when there's a sky like that there's a tornado or something like that in the general area."
And for those who witnessed the damage firsthand, they've already made their own determination.
"Do you know what? I've been through a tornado before, and once you hear the sound, you never forget it,” said Clark, “and when I heard that sound, that's how I knew what it was."
