Mattituck tornado causes 'extensive' damage at Mattituck-Cutchogue Junior-Senior High School, town supervisor says

The tennis courts, a scoreboard and the roof of the auxiliary gym at Mattituck-Cutchogue Junior-Senior High School all sustained what Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell described as "extensive damage" as the result of a tornado that weather officials said barreled through Mattituck on Sunday night. 

The high school will reopen Wednesday, but students will not be able to use the gym until further notice, schools Superintendent Shawn Petretti said in a message to parents. District leaders were working on a repair plan, he said. 

That tornado, which is believed to have first touched down along Sound Avenue at 11:17 p.m., also knocked down five trees and power lines, cutting power to almost 400 local residents and causing outages to local street and traffic lights, Russell said.

The tornado produced winds of up to 85 mph, the National Weather Service confirmed after a canvass of the area Monday by meteorologists and officials from the Suffolk County Office of Emergency Management.

On Tuesday, Russell said the damage was more significant than that caused by an EF0 tornado confirmed to have touched down in the area on Aug. 10, 2016. That tornado lasted about a minute and carried winds of about 70 mph as it traveled 0.3 miles along a 40-yard-wide path.

As was the case in 2016, there were no reported injuries as a result of the tornado Sunday night, officials said.

A district spokeswoman said Tuesday night that officials expected to get damage estimates Wednesday.

Petretti could not be reached for further comment. But Russell said the damage — which officials believe was caused by wind, not flying debris — was serious. "You could see through the roof," he said. "You could see daylight."

With Nicholas Spangler

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”