Rare Tornado Touches Down in N.Y. City

A rare tornado hit the city’s Staten Island on Friday, uprooting trees and disrupting gas and electrical service, and heavy rains drenched the already saturated Northeast, triggering flooding in parts of New Jersey and New York, authorities said.

It was the first tornado to hit any part of the city since Oct. 5, 1985, when a tornado hit the borough of Queens, causing negligible damage, said Anthony Gigi of the National Weather Service.

Police said Friday’s tornado affected only a three- or four-block area.

Two gas lines were pulled out when trees were uprooted, a spokesman for Brooklyn Union Gas said. The utility shut down service along one block to stop leaks, affecting about 50 homes.

Consolidated Edison power lines also were knocked down, a spokeswoman said. No figures were immediately available about outages.

Fire Department Lt. Jim Powell said firefighters evacuated one area until they could shut off fallen power lines and gas service.

Gigi said the tornado started as a waterspout over Lower New York Bay. He said tornadoes that begin as water spouts usually are not as powerful as those that form over land.

Debbie Casrovinci of Emergency Medical Services said two injuries were reported.

Meanwhile, flooding closed the Saw Mill River Parkway at Saw Mill and the Bronx River Parkway near White Plains, N.Y.

There was extensive flooding at Hammonton, N.J., where more than four inches of rain fell Friday morning.

Flood watches were posted over much of New Hampshire, western portions of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, eastern New York and the southern half of Vermont.