While most New Jerseyans slept Friday, two tornadoes caused by Tropical Storm Elsa touched down in Cape May and Ocean counties, the National Weather Service announced.
The first, an EF-1 which packed peak winds of 100 mph, happened in Woodbine around 2:40 a.m. and lasted about two minutes, the service said.
The tornado touched down near the entrance of the Ocean World Condominium complex where it uprooted two cedar trees, destroyed a picnic shelter at the complex’s park area and spread debris consisting of structural remains and patio furniture hundreds of feet, according to a statement from the National Weather Service. The roof of the shelter was ripped off and dropped into a nearby swimming pool, it said.
Nobody was injured while the twister spun through the area and into another nearby residential section before it ended near the intersection of Heilprin Avenue and Ocean Drive, where it snapped part of a pine tree off onto a house.
A second tornado, an EF-0 with peak winds of 80 mph, touched down at 3:33 a.m. along Sycamore Drive in Little Egg Harbor and snapped numerous large tree limbs and trees along the street.
The tornado also damaged some nearby homes before it ended on Vista Court where a few trees were snapped or unrooted, the service said.
A resident of Sycamore Avenue, Pat Bonansingar, told NJ Advance Media that their house was damaged after a large tree fell on it. It took out the house’s chimney and a tree branch went through the roof.
Bonansingar said the storm passed over the area in about ten minutes and that the winds sounded like freight train.
“It was terrifying,” Bonansingar said.
Workers from Leonardo Contracting repair a roof damaged on a home on Sycamore Drive in Little Egg Harbor Township from a possible tornado spurred from Tropical Storm Elsa, Friday, July 9, 2021. Numerous trees were uprooted and branches broken off during the storm around 3:30 a.m., in which residents described hearing a sound like a freight train.Lori M. Nichols | NJ Advance Med
Another area that was surveyed by the National Weather Service for the possibility of a tornado touching down was Somers Point. However, a survey team deduced that one did not happen and that the damage done there shortly before 3 a.m. was caused by strong wind from a rain band from Elsa.
The winds, which blew as hard as 100 mph, snapped seven wooden power poles alongthe Longport Boulevard Causeway in Somers Point, the service said. There was no other notable damage nearby and all the poles fell in the same direction.
The weather service issued three tornado warnings in New Jersey early Friday morning, based on wind rotation spotted on radar.
While the tropical storm did not make landfall in the Garden State, it was wide enough to generate heavy rain and strong wind gusts, particularly in the eastern sections of the state.
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Chris Sheldon may be reached at [email protected].
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