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The National Weather Service (web|news) has confirmed that a tornado swept through areas of Stafford and Prince William counties late Thursday night, destroying dozens of home and leaving a trail of destruction through subdivisions near Interstate 95.

The Tornado was classified as an EF2.

The damage appared to be concentrated in the England Run and the Manors at England Run subdivisions. ABC 7/NewsChannel 8 crews on the scene found dozens of homes destroyed by high winds. 

One family pulled its baby out of a crib just moments before the storm blew out the windows.

"Thank God they got that baby out of that crib and got them down to a safe place in their basement," said neighbor Sarah Kestner, who was displaced by the storm.

Stafford officials tell WWBT-TV in Richmond, Va., that the storm late Thursday evening damaged between 75 and 100 homes.  Twenty-four homes and commercial buildings were heavily damaged. 

Residents claim the damage was caused by a tornado.

"We heard everything just crashing, and windows breaking and stuff moving around and this and that," said unidentified witness. "And I could hear the wind just, turning and twisting," he said while gesticulating in the circular motion of a tornado.

The National Weather Service will send observers to the area Friday to evalaute what caused the damage.

Siding was stripped from homes and wrapped around the trees that were still standing.  Many trees had been toppled, ripped out of the earth by their roots. The winds sheared off some trees at their midpoints; the missing sections were nowhere to be found.

One concrete-block garage collapsed. The blocks were stacked on top of a pick-up truck parked outside.

Firefighters went door-to-door checking on residents, and a shelter was opened for those whose homes were damaged.

Only one person was reported injured, Andrew Leonard's father:

"He had like a six-inch gash on the top of his head; he was kind of bleeding," said Leonard. "They took him -- he's going to be fine -- they took him to a doctor, I guess. My mom went with him."

Leonard says his family caught the brunt of the storm.

"Everything that was in that little square was mine; that was all my possessions; that was my life, you know what I'm saying?" Leonard asked, rhetorically.  "And just to be taken away in a couple of minutes..."

About 100 people spent the night at an emergency shelter at a local middle school, said Cathy Riddle, a Stafford County spokeswoman.

There also were unconfirmed reports of a tornado in the Triangle area in Prince William County (web|news) .

Portions of northern and central Virginia and southern Maryland were under a flood warning Friday morning. The Weather Service said excessive runoff from heavy rainfall was causing elevated levels in small creeks and streams and ponding of water on roads.

The National Weather Service reported that Fort Washington received more than 3.75 inches of rain, and Upper Marlboro tallied more than 2.5 inches as of 8:00 a.m. Friday.

An ABC 7 photographer captured pictures of flash flooding near the intersection of Race Track Road and Water Street in Upper Marlboro.

The Jones family of Fort Washington had a couple of close calls. A tree came crashing down, falling just behind their pickup truck. It pushed the garage door down onto their Volvo inside. In the backyard, an aluminum shed wrapped around their fence, and falling debris missed their recreational vehicle.

"It's really amazing what God can do, because this is something we know that man didn't do, said Kathy Jones. "It's not as much damage and no one has been hurt, so we're thankful, very thankful."

Yards throughout the neighborhood were littered with debris. 

As of 1:00 p.m. Friday, Power is out to about 14,000 homes and businesses in Maryland and another 3,500 in the District of Columbia.

Pepco reports 9,000 outages in Prince George's County and about 200 outages in Montgomery. Meanwhile, Baltimore Gas & Electric is reporting more than 9,000 outages in its service area, including 4,400 in Anne Arundel County, and 1,100 in Howard.

Dominion Electric is reporting more than 600 outages in Northern Virginia.

MARC (web|news) is reporting that Penn Line service to Washington is no longer being interrupted at New Carrollton, however delays of 15-30 minutes on all MARC lines are still possible because of flash flood warnings.

Penn Line service was stopped at New Carrollton Friday morning because of flooding and commuters were forced to complete trips into Washington on Metro rail.

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