A tornado arrived in Breezy Point this past weekend

Image source: Gothamist – Damage at Breezy Point Surf Club

This past Saturday, Breezy Point got quite the visitor – around 10:50am a tornado touched down in this small community on the Rockaway Peninsula. Here’s a video of the twister, which shows “a tornado hitting Breezy Point in Queens, New York. It hits the beach first then tracks northeast damaging the Breezy Point Surf Club before continuing on across the peninsula.”

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_w8gWj2Ue3I&version=3&hl=en_US]

Now, even though tornadoes are not the first thing one thinks about when it comes to Queens, or the greater Northeast, they are becoming more common. A tornado arrived in Queens in 2010, moving through the borough (particularly in Flushing) at the beginning of the evening rush hour on September 16, disrupting the commute. Lots of trees fell down, and one woman was killed when a tree fell on her car while she was on the Grand Central Parkway.

The tornado this weekend did not cause any deaths. It caused some damage, knocked down power lines, and forced a delay at the US Open (the women’s singles match had to be delayed until Sunday, which was a glorious day, weather-wise), but that was the worst of it. When the tornado landed, its winds clocked at about 70 mph, was about 50 feet across, and stayed on land for only about 600 feet. The National Weather Serviced said it was a weak tornado.

Breezy Point itself is often considered to be an enclave and a quiet beach community. All the public property in the neighborhood is owned by the Breezy Point Cooperative, which oversees the 3,500 homes in the co-op; this means visitors can’t park on the street, period (this is a more restrictive policy than the parking situation in either Neponsit or Belle Harbor). The tip of the peninsula, called Breezy Point Tip, is owned by the Gateway National Recreation Area. To get a sense of the area, check out this slideshow from the NY Times.