Possible Tornado Leaves Path Of Damage In Dutchess County
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- Screams of panic were heard Wednesday evening as a possible tornado tore through buildings in Poughkeepsie.
Residents shared images of what looked like a funnel cloud.
As CBS2's Jessica Layton reported, one Poughkeepsie family said they saw the funnel cloud and believe the tornado touched down right on their front lawn – leaving a path of destruction on their property. A huge tree crashed right through the side of a sunroom.
Cindy Murphy said she saw the windows blow out of the sunroom. But she and her family were on the other side of the property at the time, taking video from her son's garage as they screamed in panic.
The roof also blew off the family's shed and flew into a tree.
Those same fierce winds took down several trees in the yard and on Maloney Road, ripping them out of the ground and sending them through the home.
The family said a telephone pole came inches from crushing one of their neighbors.
Firefighters and Dutchess County emergency management were at the scene late Wednesday, checking out the damage and looking at Murphy's video -- which got really chaotic just as she stepped inside.
"Just got in, turned around, looked, and then yeah, the tree hit the house. The glass window hit my truck and then the roof blew off the shed," Murphy said. "And airplane wings went sailing in the air, because he had wings of an old airplane in there."
The airplane wings were left wrapped around a tree in the front yard, while the roof from the shed also ended up in a tree, Murphy said.
It was especially fortunate that no one was hurt, Murphy said.
"Nobody was hurt – that was the amazing-est thing of all," she said. "Very lucky. Very lucky. Blessed."
An estimated 600 customers lost power in Dutchess and Ulster counties.
Meanwhile in parts of New Jersey, there was a pounding hail – with anything from nickel to golfball-sized hail reported.
The severe weather threat remained in effect as the late night hours, after a night of hail and heavy rain for parts of the area.
CBS2's Lonnie Quinn reported as of 111 p.m., severe weather persisted north of the city. Two storms were converging on the area around Somers in different directions – one from the east, one from the northeast.
Conditions were expected to calm for the rest of the night, but the severe weather threat remained until early Thursday morning.
