The powerful winds toppled the Sonesta ES Suites sign on Chapman Road in Newark, sending it crashing onto two parked cars and leaving them totaled.

Theresa Badley was inside the hotel when she watched the storm approach from her room. She had been preparing to leave to run an errand but decided to wait.

"Something just said, 'Don't leave yet.' So I waited," Badley said. "Then I looked out the window. I was like, 'Oh my gosh, it's coming down.'"

Badley watched as the hotel's sign began to sway before coming down onto her car. The impact shattered her windshield, deployed the airbag and left her car severely damaged. Even her bumper was blown down the street.

"I was minutes from being inside of the car. Minutes," she said.

Across the street in the Chapman Woods neighborhood, a Tesla's camera captured the force of the tornado's winds as garbage cans went flying. Homes were damaged and trees were uprooted throughout the neighborhood.

Kushal Patel said neighbors were focused on helping one another as they began cleaning up.

"Everyone's safe, which is the most important thing," Patel said. "And I think now everyone's just cleaning up, helping each other out."

The tornado also crossed over Interstate 95, where it overturned a tractor-trailer truck before reaching Christiana Hospital, where a medical helicopter was damaged. One of its rotor blades snapped during the storm.

As cleanup efforts continued Thursday evening, residents said they were thankful the damage wasn't worse.

"Be grateful for what you have, the people that you have, because things can be replaced, but people can't," Badley said.

New Castle County Emergency Management Agency officials said no injuries were reported.

The National Weather Service is expected to travel from New Jersey to Delaware on Friday morning to conduct a storm damage survey and determine more details about the tornado.