A fierce storm raked across downtown Silver Spring Wednesday afternoon, pelting windows with heavy rain and sending debris swirling through the air.

(Seriously, the place was tore up.)

The National Weather Service kicked out a tornado warning (read: Grab the blender, some ice cubes and that special “twister juice”, and head for the basement!) for Silver Spring and other parts of southeastern Montgomery County at around 3:00 p.m. They kept the place under a tornado watch (read: twister juice on standby) until 8:00 p.m.

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(One more awesome pic by Flickr user Cruffo appears here.)

At one point, rotational clouds — which can spawn tornadoes — were detected above Wheaton and White Oak, and over Hyattsville and College Park in Prince George’s County, NBC-4 News’ StormTrack 8000 (or whatever) reported.

Bright blue electrical sparks were seen near a garden-style apartment complex on Blair Mill Road in South Silver Spring as the squall rolled through. By nightfall, it was clear that parts of The Blairs, South Silver Spring and Shepherds Park in The District were without power.

By Thursday morning, the Chelsea School on Pershing Drive called things off because they too had no electricity.

It’s unclear how many homes in the downtown area lost power.

Lead photo: Lightening struck all over the place Wednesday afternoon, though this pic was taken who knows where. Courtesy of Flickr user Finepixxler.

Freakin’ amazing photos of the storm by Flickr users Cordileran, Loricwilson, Babbage, and Cruffo.

Updated Jun 5, 2008, at 9:15 a.m.