A confirmed tornado tore through Dover, Del., on Thursday, damaging hotels, bringing down trees and power lines and knocking out power across parts of the city. The mayor of Dover issued a state of emergency as police blocked roads and crews worked to restore power and clear debris. Despite the w idespread damage, police said no injuries were reported. The mayor later lifted the state of emergency Friday morning. Powerful winds and heavy rain accompanied the storm, which residents described as arriving with a rumble before quickly intensifying. “You started hearing a lot of rumbling/ It got extremely loud, really really intense,” said Marc Read of Lyons Bail Bonds. Read said debris began flying as the storm moved through. “Really scary to say the least, things start flying, a telephone pole hit our sign and knocked it out,” Read said. Julian O’Neil, of Dover, described hearing a sound similar to a train. “What you did hear was a lot of whistling noise like a train noise I’d say,” O’Neil said. “It was pretty dangerous. You weren’t able to see anything,” said Villiam Balika, of Dover. Among the hardest-hit locations were the Superlodge and Days Inn on North Dupont Road, where portions of the roofs were ripped off. Large signs were knocked over and debris was scattered across the highway. Randall Butler, a longtime Superlodge resident, said he did not expect the storm to strike where he lived. “I didn’t think it was going to hit here. I thought I was going to come home and get some sleep,” Butler said. Butler was forced to find another place to live after the damage. “Its unbelievable. Thank God I wasn’t there,” Butler said. Residents were evacuated by Thursday night as police closed roads and crews worked to restore power. Traffic lights and nearby businesses were left without electricity. Police say to take these steps if you drive up to an intersection without working traffic lights: STOP and treat the intersection as a four-way stop. Slow down and proceed cautiously. Watch for other vehicles, pedestrians, and emergency responders. Never assume another driver is going to stop. “Extraordinary. It’s just crazy. Its just something I never expected,” said Reagan Coder, of Dover. Dover police urged residents to remain home because of hazardous road conditions and widespread outages. “Stay home at this point, until the roadways are open, we have significant travel issues, dangerous travel conditions with lights being out, power outages throughout the city,” said Lt. Mark Hoffman, a Dover police public information officer. Police continued assessing damage Thursday night and warned people to stay away from downed wires. The Delaware State Police told NBC10 in a statement that they responded to several calls for downed trees and power lines in Kent County due to the storm, while also assisting the Dover Police Department with calls for service within the city.” NBC10 crews in Dover saw a Days Inn where part of the roof looked like it had been ripped off. “At this time, there appears to be no major damage at Dover Motor Speedway following reports of a nearby tornado. We’re hopeful that everyone in our community is safe and that no one was injured. We’ll continue to monitor the situation and plan to conduct a more thorough survey of the facility in the coming days,” a spokesperson for Dover Motor Speedway wrote in a statement. This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC Philadelphia. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC Philadelphia journalist edited the article for publication. This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser. ...read more read less