Bed-Stuy Slammed By Fast-Moving Storm
NEW YORK (CBS 2/ 1010 WINS/ WCBS 880) -- The one city block with the most severe structural damage from Thursday's storm was Quincy Street in Bedford Stuyvesant.
The National Weather Service confirmed Friday that two tornadoes and a microburst struck the New York City area on Thursday evening.
The weaker of the two, with gusts up to 80 miles per hour, was in Park Slope, Brooklyn. The other tornado touched down about two miles south of Flushing, Queens, north of Bayside with winds of 100 miles per hour.
But most of the damage in Queens was caused by a microburst. It packed winds of 125 mph, hitting Middle Village and Forest Hills.
The NWS said the microburst was a mile wide.
The NYC Buildings Department was on the scene in Bed-Stuy, where six row houses suffered major damage.
CBS 2's Dave Carlin was given a tour inside and up top.
The first stop was inside the shambles that is Ruby Ellis' top floor apartment. She was loading the dishwasher when storm winds punched in the windows.
Ellis told CBS 2 she was surrounded by swirling white clouds and the building started to come apart.
"The whole ceiling was being up by this gust of wind up in the air and the rain was pouring in to my living room so it took it up like a blanket and then in dropped it back down and it did it again," Ellis said.
SEE: More Photos of the Storm
WATCH: Video coverage of the storm
1010 WINS' John Montone reports from Park Slope
WCBS 880's Paul Murnane on damage in Park Slope, Brooklyn
Ellis hurt her knee in the rush to escape.
"I jumped down those stairs four at a time. I came out here and I was shocked to see everybody was out, they was experiencing the same thing I was," Ellis said.
The second part of the tour was us up to the roof top.
The incredible scene from up high included views down into apartments that construction workers like Chris Rosino were spending long hours patching.
"Everything's got to be sealed up and waterproofed. It's a lot. We will be here late," Rosino said.
Unfortunately, the work done Friday focused on temporary fixes. The permanent ones are expected to take several weeks.
