Tornado Touches Down in New Castle County — Helicopter Damaged at Christiana Hospital, Sign Down on Chapman Road
Written by Kiss Media on 12 November 2026
A tornado touched down in New Castle County on Thursday afternoon, the National Weather Service confirmed, as a severe storm swept through the Christiana area with hail, high winds and damage along a roughly four-mile path.
The storm moved in just after 1 p.m., dropping pea-sized hail across the Newark area before a tornado warning went out moments later. Video from a rooftop in the Ogletown area showed a thin twister as the storm passed.
At Christiana Hospital, the storm spun one company helicopter around and broke the rotor on another. Two trees and two signs came down nearby, though parked cars appeared to escape damage, and a ChristianaCare spokesperson said the hospital stayed on normal operations throughout.
Damage spread beyond the hospital. Trees came down in Salem Woods, a sign fell onto a vehicle at the Sonesta Hotel on Chapman Road, and a tractor-trailer overturned on I-95 southbound near the Route 273 interchange. Hail tracked the storm from Maryland through Elkton and up I-95 to North Wilmington and Claymont.
The National Weather Service will survey the damage Friday to determine the tornado’s strength and exact path. It is only the third November tornado in Delaware since records began in 1950 — the other two both struck on November 16, 1989, one near Wilmington and the second west of Kenton.
Photo: NBC10 Philadelphia. Source: WDEL — https://www.wdel.com/news/video-christianacare-helicopter-damaged-during-storm-with-confirmed-tornado/article_319bed17-291e-4a1c-b15c-e57f13fcde2f.html and 6ABC — https://6abc.com/live-updates/funnel-clouds-hail-fallen-trees-severe-storms-strike-philadelphia-region/20036438/
