CBS/AP/ September 8, 2012, 6:39 PM

Severe weather soaks Northeast

Last Updated 11:49 p.m. ET

(CBS/AP) A string of severe storms hit the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic Saturday night, including two tornadoes that touched down in New York City and startled residents who often think of twisters as a Midwestern phenomenon.

The two tornadoes struck the edges of Brooklyn and Queens, sending debris flying and knocking out power but causing no serious injuries. The storms also forced sports games to cancel -- including the U.S. Open tennis tournament, which postponed the women's final to Sunday -- and caused widespread power outages in the tri-state area, Virginia, and other states along the East Coast.

Across New York state, in Buffalo, strong winds from a broad front of thunderstorms blew roofing off of some buildings and sent bricks falling into the street. More than 6,000 customers were without power in East in Warren County, another 1,500 or so were without power in other areas upstate, and about 3,000 customers in the Hudson Valley were affected. The storm in New York City knocked out power for about 1,100 residents.

Northern New Jersey was also badly hit by storms with heavy wind, hail and rain. Jersey Central Power and Light said roughly 8,000 customers had no electricity early Saturday night, while roughly 9,000 PSE&G customers had no service. It wasn't known when all the affected customers would have their power restored.

Winds reached up to 60 mph and flooded roads in Massachusetts, western Connecticut and parts of New Hampshire before fizzling out in Rhode Island. Roads flooded in Fall River, Mass., reaching up to car windshields and forcing dozens of vehicles stalled out. St. Anne's Hospital emergency room flooded. In New Hampshire, television station WMUR reported 4,000 power outages in that state.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) confirmed that a funnel cloud was also sighted in Chantilly, Va., and a second possible funnel cloud has been sighted in Forestville, Md The utility Dominion reports about 95,600 customers are without power in Virginia.

Tornadoes touch down in New York City

The first New York City tornado hit the beachfront in Rockaway, Queens Saturday morning. Videos taken by bystanders showed a funnel cloud sucking up water, then sand, and then small pieces of buildings, as the first moved through the Breezy Point section of the penninsula.

The National Weather Service confirmed later in the day that a second, stronger tornado touched down in Brooklyn 10 minutes after the first, at about 11:05 a.m. in the Canarsie section of Brooklyn. Videos taken by bystanders at the Queens beachfront on showed a funnel cloud sucking up water, then sand, and then small pieces of buildings, as it moved through the Rockaway peninsula.

Residents had advance notice. The National Weather Service had issued a tornado warning for Queens and Brooklyn at around 10:40 a.m. The storm took people by surprise anyway when it struck about 30 minutes later.

"I was showing videos of tornadoes to my 4-year-old on my phone, and two minutes later, it hit," said neighborhood resident Peter Maloney. "Just like they always say, it sounded like a train."

In the storm's wake, the community of seaside bungalows was littered with broken flower pots, knocked-down fences and smashed windows.

At the Breezy Point Surf Club, the tornado ripped the roofs off rows of cabanas, scattered deck chairs and left a heavy metal barbecue and propane tank sitting in the middle of a softball field, at least 100 yards from any nearby home.

"It picked up picnic benches. It picked up Dumpsters," said the club's general manager, Thomas Sullivan.

Half an hour later the weather was beautiful, but he had to close the club to clean up the damage.

Radar data, video and witness reports confirmed that the cyclone that hit New York City was a tornado, National Weather Service meteorologist Dan Hofmann said. He said an inspection team would assess the damage and before estimating the strength of the storm. Hofmann said some witnesses were reporting that the wind had been strong enough to lift cars off the pavement.

Severe storm moves northeast

The National Weather Service has issued a public severe weather advisory for much of the Northeastern United States for Saturday afternoon and evening, Sept. 8, 2012.

/ NWS
The NWS has issued a public severe weather advisory for much of the Northeastern United States for Saturday afternoon and evening.

The advisory said significant severe thunderstorms, including the development of widespread damaging winds and a few tornadoes, are expected across portions of the lower Great Lakes, New England and Mid-Atlantic States Saturday afternoon into tonight.

Tornado watches were in effect for New York City and parts of New York State, Northeast Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont, until 10:00 p.m. Saturday.

The strong upper-level weather system will interact with a moist and unstable air mass as it moves into the northeastern U.S.

Areas most likely to experience this activity include Western and Central Connecticut, Northern Delaware, Western and Central Massachusetts, Northeastern Maryland, Southwestern New Hampshire, New Jersey, Central and Eastern New York, Eastern Pennsylvania, and Central and Southern Vermont.

Extreme weather caught on tape

Video taken by Roy Currlin shows a funnel cloud coming ashore at Breezy Point in Queens. Click on the video player below.

"It was crazy," said neighborhood resident Joseph Mure, who was in the shower when the storm hit, and went outside to snap a picture of the retreating funnel. "There were a lot of sirens going off. You could see it twisting."

Another video posted on YouTube by gerritsenbeach (click on the player below) shows what appears to be a funnel cloud at Breezy Point.

Joe FitzGerald posted this video on YouTube (click below):

Lizann Maher, a worker at Kennedy's Restaurant at the edge of Jamaica Bay, said she saw a "swirling cone kind of thing with something flying in it" come down and then head back out into the water toward Brooklyn.

"It was scary. We have all glass so we kept saying, 'Get away from the glass!' just in case it did come back around," she said.

The Northeast and Mid-Atlantic storms were not the only dangerous weather in the country this weekend A storm system in Oklahoma Friday night killed four people, including a child.

4, including infant, killed in Okla. storms

State and local emergency managers are monitoring this developing situation. Those in the threatened area are urged to review severe weather safety rules and to listen to radio, TV and NOAA weather radio for possible watches and warnings.

© 2012 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
16 Comments Add a Comment
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julianpenrod says:
A quality of a lie is that none was ever argued for any significant length of time before methods abandoned facts and descended into only doggerel, non validated dismissiveness, mockery, contempot, arrogance, viciousness, vulgarity. None of those opposing the subject of chemtrails, here including newster902210, EmtFF10, earth5695, mjvwsr utilized anything other than making fun and putting words in the mouths of those who warned of chemtrails. So easy to "argue" a case when you're allowed to define what the other person is saying!
But you do not see the ilk of newster90210, EmtFF10, earth5695, mjvwsr actually carrying out a full, legitimate, authentic, genuine contradiction.
They mock, they suggest mental problems, they try to accuse me of saying things I did not say.
But nowhere do they do anything to prove that the weather is normal and that chemtrails are not changing the atmoisphere.
There is not a single point I made that they counter!
As belligerent as they are, if they could, they would.
newster90210, EmtFF10, earth5695, mjvwsr admit their stance has no legitimacy.
Don't expect them ever to be able to mount anything like a valid defense of chemtrails not existing and not being aimed at changing the atmosphere.
A side point, too, newster90210 broaches the idea of global climate change. With their antipathy toward the proved facts about chemtrails, this suggests they are engaged in "copping to a lesser plea". Awhile back, the New World Order denied even the climate was changing. Conditions are such that they know they cannot do that, anymore. So they allow accusations that it is caused solely by industrial pollution, rather than admit they are doing it deliberately, with chemtrails.
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EmtFF10 says:
julianpenrod & Kikisdragon2: What drugs are you seriously smoking while you are typing your response to this article??
Info obtained from Wikipedia pertaining to chemtrails;
The chemtrail conspiracy theory holds that some trails left by aircraft are actually chemical or biological agents deliberately sprayed at high altitudes for purposes undisclosed to the general public in clandestine programs directed by government officials.[1] This theory is not accepted by the scientific community, which states that they are just normal contrails, as there is no scientific evidence supporting the chemtrail theory.

Just looking at Wikipedia is a laugh enough, but searching urther into this is seriously more of a joke. Yea ok the Government is "changing the weather" for what ever reason they deem needed. PLEASE: Stand up, take 3 steps back from your keyboard, reach for the plug & un plug it, then walk away.

I can see quite a few weathermen laughing at you right now.
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SmedleyButlerJr replies:
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I live in Buffalo, NY and I'm 53 years old. I can tell the difference betweeen the clouds - what are real clouds and what are chemtrails. The skies did NOT always look the way they do now. I can't say for sure why tptb are chemtrailing our skies, which is a worldwide phenomenon that has been taking place for about 15 years, but it is certainly going on. You obviously didn't look very deeply into this widely observed and photographed occurrence.

Watch the Documentaries,"What in the World are They Spraying," and "Why in the World are They Spraying." I don't think you'll have a smug air of arrogance regarding those nutty tinfoil-hat wearers after viewing these films.
SmedleyButlerJr replies:
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I live in Buffalo, NY and I'm 53 years old. I can tell the difference betweeen the clouds - what are real clouds and what are chemtrails. The skies did NOT always look the way they do now. I can't say for sure why tptb are chemtrailing our skies, which is a worldwide phenomenon that has been taking place for about 15 years, but it is certainly going on. You obviously didn't look very deeply into this widely observed and photographed occurrence.

Watch the Documentaries,"What in the World are They Spraying," and "Why in the World are They Spraying." I don't think you'll have a smug air of arrogance regarding those nutty tinfoil-hat wearers after viewing these films.
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julianpenrod says:
The fact is that chemtrails are responsible for unnatural massive changes in the world's weather. The ilk of kryan74 will use New World Order non argument tactics like dismissing the point wihtout proof and using mockery and name calling, but that only demonstrates how little validity there is in the position that there are no chemtrails.
In fact, since their first acknowledgement in 1997, they have overseen the warmest year on record; the largest year-to-year drop in Arcitc Sea ice coverage; the eccelerated disappearance of glaciers; the disappearance of bees; mass falls of birds; the National Weather Service recalculating wind chill to reflect the fact that air now holds more hear than it used to; the arrival of "super derechos", previously unknown hundred mile per hour straight line wind storms; the most energetic hurricane season on record; and the development of the first new cloud species to be recognized in more than half a century, the "undulatus aspiratus". Never before was there as swift a change in weather recorded. In just the past 15 years, tornadoes also began to appear where they were formerly unknown, like New York. In fact, tornadoes being absent from hilly, irregular ground laid the groundwork for the early work on tornadoes. What's forming now are not normal tornadoes. A tornado hitting New York is unprecedented in the weather records before 1997, two never hit in just one day ever! And the chemical chemtrails are pouring into the skies also has to fall to earth, mix with the ground water and even change the mechanical properties of water coming out of the taps. It was only since 1997 that "scientists" began to recant and say that the idea of water in the Northern Hemisphere draining counterclockwise is an "old wives' tale". What the gullible New World Order target audience fail to realize is that "old wives' tales" become accepted because they work!
In fact, tornadoes seem a eminently sensitive indicator of changes in the atmosphere and can tell a lot about chemtrailing. In fact, tornado numbers have been increasing steadily since about 1950. Before that date, for at least fifty years, according to the Oklahoma Climatological Survey, tornadoes were roughly constant at about 180 per year. Now, there are close to 1400 per year and the numbers are still increasing. Shills for the NWO trot out "explanations" such as that there were fewer people in the country before 1950, that's where there were fewer reports. But the population only tripled in that time, but the number of tornadoes is eight times what it was! Shills try to argue that tornadoes simply occurred where people weren't or that technology wasn't good enough to spot them. You can still see that a tornado occurred by the damage it leaves behind and, technology in 1995 was close to what it is today, but tornado numbers are twice what they were then!
It all also doesn't explain scams "meteorologists" play to try to convince people tornadoes aren't occurring. Like referring only to "powerful" storms of EF3 or higher. Those have remained roughtly constant, but the storms of EF0, EF1 and EF2 have skyrocketed! They also tended to refer only to five year averages of tornadoes, to disguise the fact that they are eight times as prevalent as 60 years ago! And they have taken to talking only about "tornado days", so they will always be able to say there were no more than 366 "tornqado days" per year, even as the number of tornadoes climbs to one million!
An important clue to chemtrails is that around 1950 is when jets started to be used worldwide, too. It seems that chemtrail chemicals were spread by jets even back then. In 1997, the atmosphere became so saturated with them that new chemical started to precipitate out! It was during that 60 year contamination of the skies that tornado nbumbers exploded. And, notice, the last new cloud species to be recognized before the undulatus aspiratus was the cirrus intortus, in 1950!
Don't expect anything like a genuine reply from chemtrail deniers. Promoting a lie, they will use NWO non argument tactics like unexplained dismissiveness, contempt, arrogance, mockery, vulgarity.
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earth5695 replies:
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I'm glad you informed me that North America only existed since the 1840s when weather data started.

Weather didn't exist before that and I'm glad you finally set me straight !
mjvwsr replies:
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You have entered the Twilight Zone
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franhgg says:
CANNOT stand this anymore. The rich are stealing the wealth of the middle class with no regards to everyday working people. If you want to see how to get your cash back, then check this out. Google ''FAST SLICK RICH'' and go to the first site. Click on their INSURANCE page to learn the secrets that the rich are trying to keep for themselves.
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retiredgustav says:
Is the "day after tomorrow here"?
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AnnieDanny says:
Amazing footage of the tornados! I don't know that I'd be calm enough to film all that, if I saw a tornado. Fascinating to watch it though.
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kikisdragon2 says:
Can you say chemtrails? weather manipulation?
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kryan74 replies:
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We can't even make it one comment deep without one of you loons.
kryan74 replies:
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Can you say Al Gore is your lover?
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