Cleanup underway after tornado hits Atlantic Beach on Long Island

Cleanup efforts are underway after a tornado struck Atlantic Beach on Long Island Thursday evening. 

The state of emergency put in place following the tornado in Nassau County was lifted Friday morning. 

The National Weather Service confirmed an EF-1 tornado touched down in Atlantic Beach after beginning offshore as a waterspout.

The tornado hit the Sun and Surf Beach Club at around 6:50 p.m. Thursday. There were about 100 people there at the time. Incredibly, there were no serious injuries. Officials initially said the tornado struck at 7:11 p.m., but the NWS has since updated the timing.

The NWS said it was 0.36 miles long and 100 yards wide, produced winds of up to 97 mph, and lasted for three minutes.

"You're not going to get much lead time with these kinds of waterspouts - they're weak, brief spinups," Nelson Vaz of the National Weather Service said. "If you get that alert, you want to get into shelter. You want to get away from windows." 

"Tornadoes form in an instant. And in this case, it started off over the ocean, worked its way over the land here in Atlantic Beach," Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said. "We're very, very fortunate, again, that nobody was injured, that there were no casualties. This was a major weather event." 

Some form of damage was visible everywhere around the club Friday morning. Debris was scattered everywhere. Cabana roofs were torn off, and benches thrown. About 50 cabanas were affected in one way or another. 

Onlookers said they couldn't believe their eyes as the dark tornado spun up and kicked more than sand around. 

"This is insane," Daniel Novick said. 

"I see the thing go, I start screaming. My buddy starts screaming. The kids were outside, like, because we were so close. You really couldn't, like, see it until it was happening," Daniel Nesci said. "And then, yeah, everyone got into the cabana and ... it was just nuts." 

The storm was quick moving. Blakeman said the whole thing took place "in minutes." 

"If you know the hardy people that belong to these beach clubs, they like to hang out here even in the bad weather. So I guess a lot of people left but there were still some stragglers here. One of the people that was in their cabana, actually, the roof flew off while they were in it, but luckily they weren't injured," Blakeman said. 

"It's by the grace of luck that a lot of people weren't hurt here. Because this beach club is a very popular place during the summer, people travel from all over the island to come and enjoy their summer down here," Inwood Fire Chief Josiyah Green said. "No one was pulled from the building. Nobody was trapped." 

There was one person with a "very minor injury," Green said. 

The owners of the Sun and Surf Beach Club said they lost a third of their 115 cabanas. 

"So it was just a little surreal. But I can keep saying the only thing is that nobody was hurt. This building, it can be refixed. The people were all OK, and that's the most important thing," Denise Baumert said. 

"A lot of people were there. I would say there were at least 200 to 300 people," Bill Baumert said. "And nobody got hurt, which is amazing." 

The owners say they have insurance and the damage will be repaired. Meanwhile, at least one neighboring club is inviting members to use their facilities for free. 

"Last night, I wasn't sure if they were AI or real. Hard to believe this could happen," beach club member Rep. Laura Gillen said. 

"You grow up with these people. They're your family, home away from home," State Sen. Patricia Conzoneri-Fitzpatrick said. 

Beach clubs along the South Shore are a treasured summer tradition dating back more than a century. The Sun and Surf Beach Club was founded in 1948. 

Friday was a day for not only cleanup, but also assessing the safety of allowing the 600-plus members to return to collect personal belongings. 

"Right now, this beach club will be closed today. And we will take it on a day-by-day basis, whether this beach club will be able to open. They will be cleaning up today. And then we will be doing a structural inspection of all of the cabanas to make a determination as to whether or not we can reopen any of these cabanas this summer," Blakeman said.

Sun and Surf's sister club, Silver Point Beach Club, is expected to reopen Saturday morning.

Blakeman said the weather also caused some downed trees and power lines, along with areas of flooding. A roof was blown off in Stewart Manor, he said.