2 tornadoes touch down in Queens, Brooklyn

NY Post ^ | September 8, 2012 | AP

[EinNYC]

Two tornadoes struck New York City on Saturday, one swept out of the sea and hit a beachfront neighborhood and the second, stronger twister hit moments later, hurling debris in the air, knocking out power and startling residents who once thought of twisters as a Midwestern phenomenon.

[EinNYC]

I was lying abed this Sabbath morning, having fallen back asleep. There was the worst rain I've ever seen in my LIFE raging outside, and I had not felt that well when I first awakened this morning, so I had not gone to services at the synagogue. Anyway, at 10:40 a.m., I heard my radio alarm clock, which was still playing, announce, "There is a tornado warning for Queens county..." and I heaved myself out of bed, grabbed whatever came to my hand first from the closet and donned my Helly Hansen raingear and boots. I ran out my front door and slogged through the water on the sidewalks to the synagogue down the street, and the one down the street from that one and the one in the other direction. I knew, since observant Jews do not turn on electric things on the Sabbath, that no one there would know of the potential danger and I felt I should warn people. We had a mere microburst tornado in 2010 exactly in my neighborhood and the streets were piled high with giant uprooted trees, twisted cars, roofs torn off, etc. and I wanted people to be safe.

Thank G-d the tornados did not touch down here and thank G-d no one was hurt where they did touch down. With hundreds of people in buildings with significant glass windows, people could have been hurt. The wind speed in the tornado in Far Rockaway had reached 110 mph, an EF1!

[YHAOS]

Uhhh . . . Bush’s fault?

[UB355]

Scares the daylights out of People. I live in SE Wisconsin. Had twisters in the county and the city where my home is. Thankfully never in my neighborhood. I live @ 12 miles west of Lake Michigan.

[left that other site]

G-d Bless you for putting your own self in danger to warn your friends.

I truly admire you for that.

[EinNYC]

You can be sure I was watching the sky for funnel formations as I ran down the street!

[left that other site]

We’ve gotten a few of those in S. Florida, so I hear ya!

[Fiji Hill]

The USC-Syracuse football game at the Meadowlands was delayed for more than an hour at halftime because of the weather. Using a mobile device, a USC Trojan fan sent a message from the stadium to a fan message board that the clouds above the stadium were totally black. However, except for some rain, the severe weather missed it and the game was resumed.

[arasina]

That was very kind of you to put yourself in danger to warn others.

[Beach_Babe]

It hit Breezy Point. Far Rockaway is on the opposite end of the peninsula.

http://youtu.be/tUWzSvQ-8ek

[RushIsMyTeddyBear]

Sooooo glad you are OK!

I know it must be terrifying to experience one, first hand, in places they are not prevalent.

If it’s ANY consolation......this is what it’s like here.....in our parts. Hope you never see one, again!

I could actually smell the dirt from these systems that went over us. And, we also survived the ones in the early 70’s.

This one was part of the system that hit my area:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0FHTG9VETY

[EinNYC]

I was using the description used by the news radio station. You are correct that Breezy Point is at the far end of the Rockaway Peninsula.

[Ryan_Rubio_2016]

hard to blame bush being tornado’s struck a blue state,but if a tornado hit south dakota, u know debbie wasserman will claim that it was God penalizing them for favoring Romney.

[Beach_Babe]

Ah, yes, the news people. I just love it when they stand by the ‘Welcome to the Rockaways’ sign at the foot of the Marine Park Bridge and begin a report with, “Here we are, in the Far Rockaway section of Brooklyn . . . “

[a fool in paradise]

Brooklyn? First tornado I've seen with a mustache and glasses.

[RitchieAprile]

Until I got my glasses on I thought it said two torpedoes
touched down.

[Timber Rattler]

The wind speed in the tornado in Far Rockaway had reached 110 mph, an EF1!

Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Missouri, Kansas, etc. laughs at NYC.

[I still care]

You have to remember the density in NYC - an EF1 can be just as bad as a worse tornado elsewhere.

Breezy Point, that got hit, is a beachfront community with lots of very close homes. They are sort of like bungaloes on steroids, and I don't think many have basements because they are right on the ocean. The streets are sand and many of the homes are all windows. It's a very unique and different place. They whole thing is actually a coop, you can't just "buy" there - you have to know someone. The cars are parked in big lots.

I remember being surprised my first visit there. It's very different. Even a small tornado will cause a mess there.

[EinNYC]

You may laugh, but you wouldn't be laughing if it was YOUR car with a huge tree going through the windshield and coming out the back. The whole car was full of the tree! That happened around the corner from me in 2010's small tornado here. There were many streets which were impassable because they were piled high with entire huge trees which had been uprooted. There were many homes with roofs torn off, cars mashed like aluminum cans, apartments with corners torn off revealing the interior rooms, thousands of trees destroyed, street poles down, live wires, power outages, major thoroughfares blocked, etc. Trees on my street, right in front of my home, were reduced in seconds from large mature oaks to fat poles sticking out of the ground, the whole crown of the trees having been torn off.

Still laughing?

[Timber Rattler]

Still laughing?

Yep, because I and many others out in the Midwest have been through far worse.

NYC needs to get over itself.