NWS: F2 Tornado Confirmed in Brooklyn — First Ever
CBS
Between 4 a.m. and 7 a.m. a string of severe thunderstorms blew through the region, making for an incredible headache for morning commuters. Thousands of New Yorkers found themselves enduring hours of delays in the sweltering heat with subways shut down and vacant taxi cabs hard to come by.
A woman on Staten Island died in a car accident which officials say was a result of the horrible driving conditions. In Brooklyn, amazingly, only scattered minor injuries were reported.
Still, the tornado certainly rattled bones as well as bricks, especially in Bay Ridge.
"About 6:35 this morning it sounded like a freight rain coming down the driveway. The house was shaking and people were screaming," said Linda Mantia, who lives in the Bay Ridge section.
"I just wanted to lay down and die," Brooklyn resident May Johnson told CBS 2.
Photo: A portion of the sidewalk rises out of the ground and a car is crushed by a tree following a heavy storm in the Bay Ridge neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York, Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2007. The skies were full of drama early Wednesday morning as a rainstorm charged through the metro area, sparking lightning and thunder and drenching the streets. (Benny Snyder / AP)
Eric Casanova couldn't believe what he saw out his window. "I looked out my window and the trees looked like dandelions. They were flowing all over the place," he said. "They say you get 15 minutes of fame, here in Bay Ridge it's 15 minutes of history."
Not only is the tornado the first ever in recorded history to touch down in Brooklyn, it's also the first to hit a New York City borough since 1995, when a twister struck Staten Island.
Outside of those two, there have been only two other tornadoes to strike New York City. The first touched down in Queens in 1985 and the second in Staten Island in 1990.
Record-keeping of tornadoes began nationwide in 1950.
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