Updated

Updated · abcnews.com · Aug 21

Long Island Tornado Injures 1 and Damages 30 Cabanas as Nassau Declares Emergency

Updated

Updated · abcnews.com · Aug 21

Long Island Tornado Injures 1 and Damages 30 Cabanas as Nassau Declares Emergency

Q: What rare atmospheric anomaly transformed a typical storm into a destructive waterspout that devastated Long Island's beach clubs?

The storm was likely intensified by a tornadic waterspout — a rotating column of air that formed over water and then moved ashore near Atlantic Beach. That appears to be the rare anomaly that turned a severe thunderstorm into a destructive event. Video showed a waterspout forming offshore, and the National Weather Service said it was reviewing evidence from one or possibly two waterspouts that may have come on land in Atlantic Beach and the eastern Rockaways. Once a waterspout moves ashore, it is effectively treated as a tornado. Officials and weather reports indicate that this waterspout-turned-tornado was responsible for the damage at the Sun and Surf Beach Club and Silver Point Beach Club, where dozens of cabanas were damaged or destroyed. AccuWeather and local officials described the footage and damage pattern as consistent with a waterspout coming inland. So the key atmospheric anomaly was not an ordinary burst of wind, but a rare offshore waterspout that likely transitioned into a tornado as it hit land.

3 articles · Updated · abcnews.com · Aug 21

One beach club employee was injured when a waterspout came ashore as a tornado in Atlantic Beach on Thursday evening, damaging or destroying 30 one-story cabanas at Sun and Surf Beach Club.
The National Weather Service said two waterspouts were confirmed between 6:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. in the eastern Rockaways and Atlantic Beach, with the southern Nassau County waterspout later verified as a tornado.
Nassau County declared a state of emergency, and search teams checked the damaged cabanas to ensure no one was trapped; nearby Silver Point Beach Club also reported property damage.
Flooding from the same storm system trapped people in vehicles along Long Island's south shore, while severe weather also spawned a tornado in Dover, Delaware.
The outbreak marked the area's first tornado since 2021, and forecasters are still assessing the Long Island twister's strength and full impact.