by Lisa Hinton-Valdrighi

WEEMS—Witnesses called it a tornado. Others classified it as a possible microburst. Whatever it was, a weather system that blew through lower Lancaster County Monday afternoon had some residents running for cover.
Nancy Kellum receives weather alerts on her phone. At about 2:15 p.m. Monday, August 7, she said the weather service was calling for mild showers in the area of her home on James Lane in Weems.
About 45 minutes later, “everything was swirling around and around in the backyard. All the furniture was flying in the air and into the pool.” It was a little more than a mild shower, said Kellum, whose patio and pool area was filled with overturned metal and wicker furniture, broken gazing balls, limbs and debris. A large branch that had fallen from neighbor Daniel Howard’s tree split her fence. On the way down, it also partially crushed his car.
“It just looked like a shower on radar,” said Lancaster County chief of emergency services Terrence McGregor.