Leahan, of MEMA, reported 15 houses with severe structural damage countywide.
State Routes 34 and 65 near Sharpsburg were among many roads blocked by the storm. The Red Cross arranged emergency shelter for families whose homes had been rendered unlivable by high winds or fallen trees.
No fatalities were reported, and Brown said injuries may have been minimized because children were still in school and residents at work when the storm struck in midafternoon.
Anne Arundel County Fire Battalion Chief Matthew Tobia said there were reports of a tornado skipping through the county, starting near Tracys Landing and moving diagonally through St. Margaret's and Cape St. Claire.
Tobia said fire crews were "extremely busy" dealing with structure fires, blocked roads and traffic accidents.
Firefighters had also received reports of downed trees and wires, as well as possible structural damage in the Round Bay community near Arnold and Cape St. Claire, where the power was out.
With no working signals and tree limbs and branches littering Ritchie Highway, traffic on one of the area's major north-south thoroughfares moved at a crawl through rush hour.
Anne Arundel Community College in Arnold was in the middle of a retirees' recognition ceremony just before 4 p.m. when an emergency siren went off and staff and students received automated text messages on their cell phones, warning of a possible tornado and ordering them to take cover.
Officials escorted 125 people at the ceremony into a windowless basement until public safety officers gave the all-clear 15 to 20 minutes later, said Linda Schulte, a college spokeswoman.
Bayberry Drive in Arnold was struck particularly hard. Allison Davis, 39, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland School of Nursing, discovered that a giant tree had smashed onto the garage and six or seven other thick trees had been uprooted when she arrived with her children.
"We came home during the storm, after a very scary ride home," she said. "Trees were falling. We basically got to the house, ran inside, grabbed the dogs and ran into the basement."
Across the street, a 20-inch-thick tree fall from one yard onto a neighbor's garage - and the gray 2002 Porche Boxer it sheltered.
"We've had a lot of storms ... but nothing like this," said Rich Stewart, 55, president of Datacare Inc. "I'm on the verge of tears. I'm devastated. That's my baby in there."
