Tornado leaves 'disaster' in its path
Bob Hohenberger surveys damage to his home and vehicles on Feuereisen Avenue in Bohemia. (Aug. 10, 2012) Credit: James Carbone
A fast-moving tornado touched down Friday afternoon in central Suffolk County, creating the most havoc in Bohemia, where trees were thrown into power lines, homes and cars, the National Weather Service said.
The twister stayed on the ground for about eight minutes, covering 4 1/2 miles, said meteorologist Dan Hofmann at the Upton-based service.
At 2:06 p.m., the tornado touched down in Great River, then spun north, into Connetquot River State Park, Bohemia and Ronkonkoma. Suffolk police said no injuries were reported.
Hofmann said that for a tornado, the time on the ground was unusually long.
"A lot of times when you get tornadoes spin up on Long Island, they are relatively brief," he said. "It was mostly tree damage, luckily."
"I yelled to my two kids to go to the basement and by that time, it was gone," said Diemidio, 47. "It was kind of scary."
The twister was given the lowest grade on the tornado scale because of its 65 mph to 85 mph winds. The last time a tornado hit the Island was last August, with Tropical Storm Irene, the weather service said.
"I never expected something like this," said Barbara Yager, who lives on Ronkonkoma's Feuereisen Avenue, one of the hardest-hit streets. "These things don't happen on Long Island. Kansas and the Midwest maybe."
Flash floods were reported in several areas as 1 to 2 inches of rain fell in eastern Nassau and western Suffolk, weather officials said.
