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Ivan Spawns Twisters
Updated: Friday, Sep. 17, 2004 - 7:08 PM

(AP) - Tropical Depression Ivan made its presence known in the Washington area Friday at the height of rush hour, spawning dozens of twisters, damaging buildings, toppling trees and knocking out power to thousands.
Dominion Virginia Power reports that more than 16,000 customers in the region are without service after various reports of tornado sightings and possible touchdowns.

In Northern Virginia, witnesses reported seeing funnel clouds in the Manassas and Centreville areas. Passengers at Dulles Airport were taken off planes and brought back into the terminals, where they were told to stay away from the windows. Planes at the airport were held on the ground for about a half-hour.

There are reports of damaged homes in the Chantilly area, near Dulles airport.

Gov. Mark R. Warner declared an emergency because of the storms, allowing him to mobilize state police and National Guard units.

In Maryland, a tornado reportedly touched down in Frederick County Friday, and storm warnings and flood watches were posted across Maryland as rain from Hurricane Ivan and a second system soaked the state.

The National Weather Service said a tornado was reported on the ground at 5:52 p.m. about five miles south of Brunswick.

Minutes later, the agency reported another tornado developing 16 miles south of the Washington County town of Boonsboro.

And the Weather Service said a tornado was reported Friday at 6:13 p.m. about seven miles south of Poolesville in Montgomery County. A dispatcher with the county police department said there were no immediate reports of damage.

The entire state was under a flood watch through Saturday. The weather service predicted the Potomac River would overflow its banks by Sunday morning in Allegany County, downstream from Oldtown, mainly due to heavy rains Friday in parts of Virginia and West Virginia.

Maryland Emergency Management Agency spokesman Ed McDonough said flooding also was possible along the Susquehanna River.

He said any flash flooding of smaller streams appeared to be most likely in the western mountains, where up to 6 inches of rain were expected to fall through Saturday.

Elsewhere in Maryland, rainfall predictions through Sunday morning included forecasts for 3 to 4 inches in Cecil County, 2 to 6 inches on the Eastern Shore and 3 to 5 inches in central Maryland.

The weather service posted a tornado watch around 4 p.m. for six central Maryland counties and Baltimore city.

McDonough said he expected the rain to closely follow a track taken nine days earlier by the remnants of Hurricane Frances, which drenched the eastern slope of the Appalachian Mountains with up to 7 inches, causing stream flooding and mudslides.

On the bright side, McDonough said Ivan's remnants were moving faster through the area than expected. "The good news when it moves quicker is that the rain doesn't last as long in any one particular area."

The weather service said Maryland would also be doused by rain from a cold front moving in slowly from the west.

The agency predicted the Potomac would overflow its banks at Paw Paw, W.Va., midway between the Maryland communities of Oldtown and Little Orleans, by Sunday morning. The river will crest there at 29.2 feet, which is 4.2 feet above flood stage, the weather service said.

The weather threat prompted the National Park Service to cancel two Civil War re-enactor encampments planned for Saturday night near Sharpsburg. One was to have been held at the Ferry Hill Plantation on the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal. The other was planned in conjunction with a scrapped torchlight tour of the Antietam National Battlefield.

"With any pickup in the wind, we were concerned about having them out there in groves of trees when trees would fall," battlefield Superintendent John W. Howard said.

Howard said other weekend activities marking the 142nd anniversary of the Battle of Antietam would go on as planned. Weekends closest to the Sept. 17 anniversary date are usually the park's busiest, averaging 25,000 visitors a day, he said, but because of the foul weather, "I would anticipate we'll probably see a reduction."