RAW VIDEO: Viewer video of funnel cloud in New Jersey
SLIDESHOW: Viewer weather photos
Jeff Ricker's farm has been in Wantagh since 1918, and this was the first time it had to withstand a tornado.
"We're looking at maximum wind speeds around 120 miles per hour, so that would make it an EF2 tornado that ripped through," the National Weather Service's Joe Miketta said.
The winds were strong enough to topple a silo, crush two barns and uproot trees down several nearby streets. The Ricker farm took the hardest hit.
"Knowing that my wife and kid wasn't here, I really wasn't too concerned about it," Ricker said. "Because everything around us can be replaced."
Many people saw the tornado as it formed, snapping shots of it.
"It was an eerie calm," Wantage Mayor Parker Space said. "It was like walking into a dark funnel, almost."
The cleanup continues Thursday, with lots of trees being cut and cleared from the roads. Thankfully, no one was hurt.
"Next time, everyone is going to keep an eye to the sky," Space said.
Ricker said he lost at least one cow calf that was picked up by the wind and blown away.
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