During Thursday’s thunderstorms, D.C.-area residents’ phones were aggressively buzzing with emergency alert after emergency alert, warning of flash flooding and possible tornadoes. Now the National Weather Service has confirmed two tornado touchdowns in the District and Arlington, mostly damaging trees and downing power lines.

The first twister touched down in Arlington’s Waverly Hills neighborhood at 8:59 p.m., and traveled east along a 4.4 mile path. In the Cherrydale neighborhood, several trees were uprooted, and large branches were snapped, blocking roadways and pulling down power lines. Winds reached 90 mph, according to NWS; in Woodstock Park the twirling wind stripped the bark off one tree. The tornado tore along the Orange Line corridor, through some of the most densely populated neighborhoods in the county. One resident was injured, after briefly being trapped by fallen tree limbs.

The tornado likely crossed the Potomac near the Roosevelt Bridge, then ripped through the National Mall, parallel to Constitution Avenue. Around Constitution Gardens, the damage was “chaotic and convergent, with hardwood limbs and downed trees falling in multiple directions,” according to NWS.

From there, the tornado made its way toward the White House, and came within about two blocks of the executive mansion. The last bit of damage the tornado caused was to temporary fencing set up for Fourth of July festivities by the Ellipse. The fencing appeared to have been “lifted up and twisted, landing in a mangled and haphazard manner,” according to NWS.

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The tornado was rated as an EF1 storm, the second-weakest tornado category, on a scale ranging from EF0 to EF5.

According to Arlington County officials, the storm caused power outages to 5,000 homes. The Arlington County Fire Department had a busy evening, responding to calls related to 16 fire alarms, 15 wires down, 16 outside fires or structure fires, one vehicle crash and one rescue.

The second tornado, touching down 10 minutes later, was brief — traveling just three-quarters of a mile — and weaker, rated EF0. It touched down in the H Street Corridor, and moved through Kingman Park. Numerous trees and branches were downed, damaging at least two cars.

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Tornadoes are a relatively unusual occurrence within the District of Columbia. There may have been one in May, 2019, though NWS said at the time the evidence was not conclusive. The last confirmed tornado in D.C. was in April, 2017, when two twisters tore through the city, ripping up cherry blossom trees and tearing the roof off of a church. Both were rated EF0.

What is maybe most famous tornado in the District’s history occurred just a few years after the city was founded. It was at the height of the War of 1812, when British forces invaded and set fire to the nation’s new capital city. A tornado reportedly touched down in the center of occupied Washington on the afternoon of August 25, 1812. “More British soldiers were killed by the tornado’s flying debris than by the guns of the American resistance,” reads one account of the storm from the NWS.