Two Tornadoes Touch Down In New York: See The Most Shocking Photos And Videos Of The Twisters

By Eric Brown | September 08 2012 8:03 PM

New York was struck by two tornadoes on Saturday, with the first twister primarily hitting Queens and the second primarily hitting Brooklyn.

Although tornadoes regularly ravage the U.S. Midwest, New York historically has experienced many fewer and much tamer twisters. While objects of various kinds were thrown around the city on Saturday, neither deaths nor injuries were reported to the New York Fire Department as being the results of these extreme weather events, according to Gothamist.

The first tornado touched down close to Breezy Point in Queens without causing much serious damage. That one had been expected to move further inland, affecting such Queens neighborhoods as Jamaica, Flushing, and Bayside.

The second tornado touched down near Canarsie in Brooklyn. That one's maximum wind speed was reported to be as high as 110 mph, according to CBS News.

National Weather Service meteorologist Dan Hoffman told the Associated Press some New York residents saw their cars lifted off the pavement. And others were shocked to see tornadoes sweep through their own backyards.

"We haven't seen damage, the sand picked up and kind of got tubular, and then it went out to water right in front of the restaurant, and then traveled back inland over Brooklyn," Lizann Maher, of Kennedy's Restaurant in Breezy Point, told Gothamist.

The tornadoes came through the city as part of a severe weather system moving to the East Coast from the Midwest. The same storm system caused four deaths in Oklahoma.

Currently, much of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut is under a tornado watch until 10 p.m. EDT.

No significant damage was reported after the tornadoes, but the storm system did lead to some fantastic photos and videos of the twisters juxtaposed with New York. Check out some of the most shocking photos and videos of the tornadoes below.

Joe Salerno spotted this cyclone in southern Brooklyn, tweeting "Coney Island beachgoers spot a Tornado this morning!"

Another Twitter user saw his table swept up onto a power line, tweeting "There was just a tornado in breezy, yea that's my table in the cables. What they call sky dining :P"