Tornado in Bay Ridge

(tree damage to house in Bay Ridge, location unknown. This and other terrific photos
here )


This would happen when I am out of the country, in Beijing, China.

There was a small tornado, or something close to it, in Bay Ridge this morning. There are numerous reports of downed trees, broken windows, damage to roofs.

The best current news appears to be from Newsday, who quotes several friends and neighbors from 68th Street. (they've since edited the article. But the first draft of this article mentioned three people I know on my block by name!)

Kenny reports that 1010 WINS" is providing good coverage.

Quick Eyewitness Report from Kenny
I can't get anywhere NEAR 68 street. 69th is f**** up. lief eriksen park is all messed up about 40% of the trees are down. TV crews all over the place. it's tough to get near there. I tried calling **** but his lines been busy. maybe the lines down.

Reports the NY Times City Room
Storm Declared a Tornado

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710pm NYC time
From Fox Five, news report, plus a series of photos. Click on the small photos to enlarge them. One is of a tree that blew into an apartment house window. Another is of several roofs severely damaged--I suspect that the photo of roof damage may be 68th Street between Third and Fourth Avenues. I was advised that 348 68th Street suffered $100,000 damage and that clearly could be one of the storm damaged houses in one of the photos we see here.

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Very good photo gallery from NY Daily News, with a number of photos of the damage in Bay Ridge, Sunset Park, and elsewhere in Brooklyn.
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Bay Ridge storm damage images posted in Flickr
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Because China blocks all blogs, I am in the peculiar position of being able to post to my own blog, but I cannot see it or most blogs directly, nor can I read comments directly. If you've posted a comment, please also send it to me at bayridgephantom@gmail.com so I know what is being said. Email can be received, but blogs are blocked.