EF-2 tornado touches down in Brooklyn

It was all over the local news stations in New York City as much of their evening and late night newscasts had at least half of their airtime devoted to this story.

Heavy storms rolled through the New York City metropolitan area between 5:00 AM to roughly 7:30 AM Eastern Time yesterday morning. While I had lied in bed, nasty thunderstorms moved through dumping heavy rains, clogging major road arteries and caused a great deal of problems on the city's transit system. But the very big story confirmed by the National Weather Service was that amongst these storms, an EF-2 tornado touched down in the Bay Ridge, Brooklyn section of New York City. It is the first time since 1889 that a tornado touched down in this borough of the city and is the strongest on record. Actually, the tornado originated in the Tompkinsville, Staten Island section of the city, then reformed and touched down in Bay Ridge.

Earlier this summer, there was a tornado that ripped through a neighborhood in the Long Island community of Islip Terrace, New York and another last year touched down on Long Island as it went through Massapequa. The most notable tornado from last year was about 2 to 3 miles from me with an F-2 tornado causing damage in central Westchester County town of Hawthorne, New York.

My father's side of the family has roots in Bay Ridge and I was most recently there last December. Only from what I know right now, the block where my father grew up wasn't where the damage was. Unless I hear otherwise as far as that news is concerned, I'm relieved.

What really strikes a nerve with me is how just a minor weather event such as very strong thunderstorms could wreak havoc on New York City's transit system and cause so many headaches for commuters. Many trying to make it to work yesterday morning dealt with numerous delays on major roadways, at the airports and especially the subway system. Apparently, flooding of subway tracks partly shut down the system causing overcrowding on those subways that were running and others that decided to use transit buses and cabs were out of luck with overcrowding as well. Many critics aired their frustrations where if the city has issues like yesterday, how in God's name will New York City be ready when a real natual disaster hits? Interestingly, this event comes just three days after the Discovery Channel aired Superstorm, a movie that gives viewers a look at a "what if" scenario should a major hurricane directly strike the Big Apple.

Here is more local coverage on the EF-2 tornado on Staten Island and especially in Brooklyn.

The Weather Channel's Abrams & Bettes page (August 8):
Tornadoes touch down in New York City (video clip)

WNBC-TV (New York City) (August 8):
Brooklyn cyclone

WNYW-TV (New York City) (August 8):
New York storms: Tornado tears into Brooklyn

WABC-TV (New York City) (August 8):
After the tornado in Brooklyn

New York One (NY 1) (August 8):
National Weather Service confirms tornado touched down in Brooklyn

News 12 Brooklyn (August 8):
Tornado touches down in Brooklyn
City works to clean up Brooklyn after tornado

New York Daily News (August 9):
Brooklyn becomes Tornado Alley!

New York Post (August 9):
Brooklyn cyclone

New York Times (August 9):
That wind that left part of Brooklyn upside down? It was a tornado, all right.

AM New York (August 9):
Tornado, storm wreaks havoc in New York City