Nassau County Residents Cleaning Up After Tornadoes Leave Path Of Destruction
LEVITTOWN, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Thousands of people on Long Island are dealing with the aftermath of multiple tornadoes that struck over the weekend.
High winds knocked down trees, causing quite a bit of damage.
The twisters made an impact in both Nassau and Suffolk counties.
As CBS2's Vanessa Murdock reports, there were a total of four confirmed tornadoes on Long Island during Saturday's outbreak. The strongest was in Suffolk County - an EF1 with winds of 110 mph. The damage in Levittown was the result of an EF0, with maximum winds of 85 mph.
Video shows trees in Levittown swaying, then bending before the force of the EF0 tornado packing winds of 85 mph, sending them crashing onto homes, roads and cars.
"We got really lucky," said Levittown resident Leena Bhoplae. "I saw the wind shift and the alert when off on my phone... I grabbed my dog and yelled to my mom to get into the most interior room for us."
They hunkered down in the bathroom
"While we were in there we hear some thumps, no, we know what it was," Bhoplae said.
One of her trees crashed onto the street, another onto the neighbor's house, splitting it down the middle. On Monday, you can see through the home. Crews spent the day cutting away the massive tree that crashed into it, and hauling it off in pieces.
This tornado and the aftermath was such a spectacle neighbors came to see it for themselves.
"The pictures don't do it justice," neighbors Elaine and George Morrison told Murdock. "Thank god nobody was hurt."
But it was a close call. A tree smashed through the roof into the living room, trapping a woman inside. A quick thinking neighbor called 911.
"They were barely able to get her right out of the front door," Levittown resident Dylan Harrigan.
The home is no longer fit for human occupancy.
"I yelled at my wife, 'Get into the bathroom,'" one Levittown homeowner told CBS2.
"The only other place you can go is, let's say, in the bathroom, in the tub, if that were the case. Other than that, no, just say a little prayer and we'll go from there," neighbor Ed Warch said.
"It's a huge tree. The amount of damage it did, you can see, it's off the slab, it's crazy. This house has to be completely taken down and started over," one resident said.
Levittown was the final stop for that twister. It first touched down in Woodmere at 2:37 p.m., hopped to Hempstead, then Uniondale.
Damage got ugly: Half a roof - boards, tar paper and all - ripped off and thrown onto a Lexus and garage, destroying its roof. The origin – the next door neighbor's house. A green tarp covers the void - the two story colonial unfit for living now too.
"Very crazy things going on over here," said Neil Davis.
Tornadoes happen on Long Island. From 1950-2020, eight touched down in Nassau County, 28 in Suffolk, over the same 70-year period, five EF2s with winds up to 135 mph raked across the island.
A November outbreak – how rare is it? The latest touchdown on the island before this happened October 29th, 2018. The latest in New York State, November 16, 1989.
