Westchester homeowners clean up; NWS experts probe possible tornado
RYE BROOK, New York (WABC) -- In Westchester County, torrential rain hit the region hard and fast.
Some areas recorded nearly 5-inches of rain according to the National Weather Service.
Now, homeowners and businesses are cleaning up as experts determine if tornadoes touched down.
A woodchipper was hard at work on Dorchester Drive in Rye Brook where limbs from trees littered yards and a huge maple limb nearly crashed into a home.
Cell phone video from Lawridge Drive showed a fire in the street, caused when trees crashed into power lines.
Con Eidson responded quickly, but some homes were left without power.
It was just after 4 p.m. on Tuesday when the skies darkened and the winds picked up.
Residents were aware of the tornado watch in the area so they took to their basements to stay safe as a precaution.
None of the downed trees fell on houses and no residents were injured in the area, but there were certainly some scary moments.
"The wind was blowing so fiercely, that tree, the maple over there, was completely flat." said Laurie Landes, a homeowner. "And I yelled to my husband, 'Get to the basement!' And we went to the basement and we hung out there until everything quieted down."
"It was a very isolated area in Rye Brook, in the Country Ridge area," said Christopher Bradbury, village administrator. "Most of the damage was tree damage and some power lines out, there was only about 20 outages, and Con Ed was there very quickly and we're working to restore the power and clear the roads together with our highway team."
There was also damage in neighboring Purchase. The village administrator submitted photos to the Westchester Department of Emergency Management, which in turn, forwarded them to the National Weather Service. They will not be sending a survey crew to the area, but they will be reviewing those pictures of damage as they try to determine if a tornado did touch down Tuesday afternoon.
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