Photo by Bill Green Carol Myers surveys damage to her farm on Ball Road near Ijamsville. Winds destroyed a number of the barns and sheds on the 300-acre farm. None of the livestock were hurt, but a calf was missing. Purchase this photo

Winds in excess of 60 mph shattered trees, fences and barns, especially in Ijamsville, New Market and Mount Airy .

As many as 1,500 power failures were reported in Mount Airy , 1,450 in Adamstown , 1,200 in Ijamsville, and 900 in Monrovia , said Mark Nitowski, Allegheny Power spokesman.

Scattered debris partially or fully closed several roads, including Md. 75 at Md. 80, Md. 80 at Cornfield Drive and I-270 south near Doctor Perry Road.

The National Weather Service issued a tornado warning in Frederick and Carroll counties at 2:17 p.m. because some of the storms were rotating, said meteorologist Nikole Listemaa.

Thunderstorms dropped nearly 2 inches of rain in less than two hours, she said.

The National Weather Service confirmed on Saturday morning the storm was a tornado. p>Cpl. Gary Cline of the Frederick County Sheriff's Office said the hardest-hit areas in New Market were Ijamsville Road, Ball Road, Prices Distillery Road and Mussetter Road. A barn collapsed on Mussetter Road, and a home had partially collapsed on Ball Road, he said.

On Mussetter Road, resident April Reardon said she went to her garage to watch what she thought was a gentle summer rain when everything started going crazy in front of her.

Tree limbs flew by, then the front column of her house.

"It landed in the back of the house, down underneath the deck," Reardon said.

Where she was felt like it was going to blow away.

Tree trunks cracked, she said. Two evergreens fell on her neighbor's driveway in what Reardon said was "the most powerful wind" she ever felt.

"If you ask me, it was a tornado," she said.

The wind demolished her neighbor's recently restored barn across the street, Reardon said. Metal fragments from the roof landed in her yard, she said.

Reardon called her dad during the storm.

He lives on Md. 80 near Md. 75, she said.

As he was driving home, a tree fell in front of him and behind him, she said. He used the chain saw in his truck to free himself.

While he did that, someone called and asked him to help out at Charlotte Montgomery's farm on Ball Road, she said.

They'd lost fence posts and the roofs of their sheds and milking barn, said Carol Myers, a family member.

Myers ducked inside a calf shed when the rain started pouring.

"The door blew in," she said. "When I got out, I saw calf hutches flying through the air."

She didn't hear the wind roar, but there was a lot of wind and beating rain. She saw more things flying.

"I sat down on the floor and started crying," Myers said.

Carla Palamone and colleagues were on the 13th hole of Whiskey Creek Golf Club in Ijamsville when a sound "like a big train coming" stopped them, according to an e-mail to The Frederick News-Post. "The sky was churning and the sound was getting louder and louder," Palamone wrote. Attempting to get back to the clubhouse was like the "flight or fight" response kicking in, trying to steer the golf cart through the storm.

The only reported injuries had been caused by traffic accidents, said Cpl. Gary Cline of the Frederick County Sheriff's Office. Cline set up a small command post at the New Market Volunteer Fire Co. Other deputies and staff from the Jefferson and Walkersville fire and rescue companies waited on-call for any other incidents.

Damage was widespread.

"We are getting flooded with calls," said Charlie Gischlar, State Highway Administration spokesman. "We are going to be busy" Friday night.

As the storm moved through the area, SHA was also receiving calls in Carroll, Howard and Baltimore counties, Gischlar said.

300-year-old tree falls in Mount Airy

In Mount Airy , J.D. Meyer's 300-year-old, 90-foot-tall Northern Red Oak withstood many storms over the years, including several that knocked down other big trees on his four-acre homestead.

Friday afternoon, after the heavy rain and winds that hit Frederick County, the big oak -- whose canopy spread nearly 200 feet -- was down in his front yard.

"It's been struck by lightning seven times since I bought the property in 1981," Meyer said. "Once, I had to go out there with my tractor and hook up a chain to pull off a large branch that (had) fallen on Skyview Drive so people could go to work that morning."

Meyer said he employed Mead Tree & Turf Care in Lisbon to feed and prune the great oak each fall.

"Bob Mead is the tree expert, not me," Meyer said. "He said he takes care of the six oldest trees in the state, and this is the oldest in central Maryland. They had to use their tallest cherry picker to prune it."

Meyer said Mead's company ran rods down to feed the deep roots, as well as administer antibiotics to keep the tree healthy over the years.

The great oak was lying in the yard blocking the driveway, and tree workers were cutting it into pieces as Meyer was interviewed over the phone. He said he kept many photos of the tree on his computer, he said, but his house was without electricity Friday after the storm.

"My children were adults when we moved here," Meyer said. "But the grandchildren, especially my granddaughter, loved the tree."

Meyer, a retired Navy pilot, said the tree always reminded him of a favorite poem, "Trees," by the American poet Joyce Kilmer, which begins with the famous verse: "I think that I shall never see, A poem lovely as a tree."