It’s Official: EF-3 Tornado Struck Bensalem, PA, Thursday Night

The National Weather Service just confirmed that an insanely powerful tornado did in fact touch down in Bensalem, PA, Thursday night.

Officials have been surveying sites across our area to evaluate if tornadoes did in fact touch down.

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Their findings just confirmed that a very powerful EF-3 twister hit Bensalem, PA. That means the winds peaked at 140 MPH as the storm was spotted in the area around 7:20 last night. They say the storm touched down along the Old Lincoln Highway corridor near the Neshaminy Mall.

"The storm damage survey team mentioned the most intense damage was to car dealerships and an adjacent mobile home park," the National Weather Service said Friday afternoon.

Six people were injured in the storm, which caused devastating damage to the Faulkner Auto Dealership complex, a nearby mobile home park and a Lowes store.

Television footage showed that cars had been knocked onto the sides in the auto parking lot.

“The Faulkner area just looks like a TV show, just looks like a bomb went off, I mean it’s gone,” Bensalem Township's Police Director of Public Safety Fred Harran told NBC 10. 

The National Weather Service out of Mount Holly (which services our entire area) issued 14 tornado warnings across our area Thursday afternoon. Those storms are evaluated and confirmed afterwards as they send a team to look for signature signs of a twister.
Additionally, they weather service has also confirmed that two separate EF-1 tornadoes touched down in Ocean County (Waretown and Barnegat) with winds of approximately 100 MPH last night.

Their team is also evaluating if a tornado also traveled from New Hope, PA to Trenton, NJ.