Tornadoes Wreak Havoc Across Long Island, Two Touch Down On South Fork

On Monday afternoon, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone traveled to Westhampton to assess the damage wrought by one of five tornadoes that touched down on Saturday, November 13, in Suffolk County. Six tornadoes hit Long Island altogether.

Late Tuesday, November 16, the National Weather Service confirmed that a tornado tracked through Hampton Bays and North Sea Saturday— in addition to the one that tracked through Westhampton.

From a podium at the Suffolk County Department of Public Works yard and salt barn, the county executive noted the tempests tore siding off houses and ripped the roof off at least one home in the county. It upended planes at nearby Brookhaven Calabro Airport in Shirley and wreaked over $1 million in damage at the Brookhaven recycling facility.

Of the six tornadoes confirmed on Long Island last Saturday, a small EF0 tornado tracked through Remsenburg and Westhampton, according to the National Weather Service, touching down on Ring Neck Road in Remsenburg and continuing northeast to the intersection of East Ridge Court and Montauk Highway in Westhampton Beach. The tornado disappeared near Hazelwood Avenue, Rodgers Avenue and South Perimeter Road in Westhampton Beach, the report said.

The Weather Service’s Upton forecast office had yet to release an exact damage and track report for the Hampton Bays-North Sea tornado as of publication, but confirmed that it was an EF0.

An EF0 tornado is the weakest on the Enhanced Fujita scale, packing winds from 65 to 85 mph. An EF1 has projected winds of 86 to 110 mph, while an EF5, the strongest storm, is estimated to exceed 200 mph winds. Unlike hurricane ratings, the weather service measures the strength of tornadoes from observed damage, rather than wind speed alone.

No injuries resulted from the tornados, according to the Weather Service, which labeled the damage to the Suffolk County Department of Public Works yard and salt barn “the most extensive structural damage” from the Westhampton tornado, rendering it structurally unsound.

On site, a huge wall had caved in and the roof collapsed. Cinder blocks were strewn like pebbles across a huge swath of the yard riddled with pieces of fencing, rusted steel drums and other detritus.

The damage in Westhampton “is a real concern as we approach the winter season,” Bellone said. The barn houses salt and sand for the East End, and highway workers need to be able to access the site for those materials, the county executive explained. Against the backdrop of supply line issues, the concern is especially acute.

By Tuesday night, the weather service confirmed six tornadoes hit Long Island on Saturday. An EF0 storm tracked through Woodmere, Hempstead, Uniondale and Levittown in Nassau County; an EF0 storm impacted East Islip; an EF1 storm hit Shirley and Manorville; an EF0 storm in Bellport; an EF0 storm that tracked through Remsenburg and Westhampton; and an EF0 storm that tracked through Hampton Bays and North Sea. Three other tornadoes were confirmed in Connecticut.

“We have not seen three separate tornadoes touch down in Suffolk County since 1991,” Bellone said, calling the storm “historic.”

The rapid nature of the storm’s development meant there wasn’t a lot of warning, with the first alert issued just before the first tornado touched down. The Hampton Bays-North Sea tornado was the ninth confirmed tornado in the Upton office’s forecast area, which encompasses southeastern New York, northeastern New Jersey and southern Connecticut.

At the Farmers Market Farm Stand on Montauk Highway in Westhampton, manager Sandy Raynor recalled receiving a text at about 4:15 p.m. while she was helping three customers from Quogue.

“The sky turned dark really quick,” Raynor said on Sunday morning, adding, “It was just an odd thing that came through.”

Grabbing their goods, the three men ran out to their car while Raynor ducked into the cooler for cover, until she heard a customer at the register asking for romaine lettuce.

“I peeked out and it was just like out of a movie,” she said. “I see him with all the wind behind him, all our tents coming down, he’s got something in his hair, something hit him on the leg. And then I yelled out, ‘Come in here!’”

For about five minutes, they hunkered down in the cooler together, waiting for the fast-moving storm to pass, bringing with it heavy rain, quarter-sized hail and strong wind gusts that Raynor estimated reached 100 mph.

When the weather died down, Raynor and her customer emerged from the cooler and surveyed the store. It looked like it had been ransacked, she said — oils, vinegars and sauces smashed on the ground, pies everywhere, even the portable restroom had been launched into the woods.

“I couldn’t believe it. We lost a lot of stuff,” she said. “In the back, there are around five huge oak trees that are down. I just went out there to check them — they’re perfectly fine, they weren’t rotted or anything.”

Raynor said she expects the farm stand’s owner, John Carson, to file an insurance claim in the coming days, which will assess the damage. And as for her storm buddy, “the guy got his romaine lettuce, gave me a big hug and off he went,” she said.

The morning after the storm, Raynor said she felt rattled, but grateful that she and her customers were safe — and thankful to friends of the farm stand for dropping off bagels and offering to help clean up.

On Monday, Bellone urged residents in affected areas to take care, and especially to look out for branches and tree limbs that may not have fallen yet.

“Be cognizant of the fact you could see falling branches weakened by the storm,” he warned.

This year, the Weather Service’s Upton forecast office issued a record-tying 16 tornado warnings, five on Saturday alone. The first warning on Long Island was issued at 2:53 p.m. for an area stretching from Uniondale and Levittown to Commack, and the last warning expired at 4:30 p.m. for an area stretching from Quogue to Amagansett.

“I think what we’re witnessing and what we’re seeing is these extreme weather events that are growing in scope and intensity and they develop very quickly,” Bellone said, voicing concern over the increasing uncertainty whether a predicted storm could escalate, or fizzle out.

Bill Goodman, a meteorologist with the Upton forecast office, said Saturday’s weather event was unlike anything he’d witnessed in his 20-year career — or in modern history.

“I don't think we’ve observed anything like [this] in modern history,” he said. “I've worked my fair share of tornado events, but I've never seen anything like that with so many tornadoes.”

Kitty Merrill, Annette Hinkle and Michelle Trauring contributed reporting.