Tornado touches down in Coventry
A tornado touched down in Coventry early Thursday, snapping utility poles and knocking down more than a dozen trees. No one was injured.
The EF0 tornado, the weakest type, touched down twice in the southeastern part of town at 4:10 a.m. It was only on the ground about 90 seconds, but damaged more than 50 trees and toppled more, the National Weather Service said.
The tornado was spun off loud thunderstorms that moved in a northeasterly direction through the state a few hours before dawn, dumping heavy rain and triggering jarring cellphone alerts. Tornado warnings in Hartford, Tolland and Windham
counties were extended but then canceled.
National Weather Service staff arrived in Connecticut later in the morning to check the damage in Coventry and in the Salem area to the south. There was no word by early Thursday afternoon of their findings in New London County.
The wind in Coventry was strong enough to snap two utility poles in addition to toppling trees, police Chief Mark A. Palmer said. None of the trees hit any homes.
The weather service said the tornado was 75 yards wide and traveled about three-quarters of a mile, reaching an estimated wind speed of 75 mph.
It first touched down near the intersection of South and Pucket streets, taking down several large trees in a field, the NWS said. It lifted and headed northeast across a wooded area, where it created pockets of tree damage. It then touched down again north of the intersection of Flanders Road and Nathan Hale Drive, where it damaged power lines before again moving into a wooded area, the weather service said.
“At least 50 trees were damaged in this area, with many having their tops sheared off,” it said. In addition, more than a dozen trees were blown down.
Two residents reported hearing the tornado warning and said they moved to the safety of their basement, the NWS said, and “about 15 minutes later hearing a loud wind that lasted just moments.”
More than 100 Eversource customers in Coventry lacked power at 6:30 a.m., but the number of outages had dropped to 12 by noon.
In all, 2,561 of the power company’s customers, and about 50 in United Illuminating’s coverage area, had no electricity at 6:30 a.m. Thursday. At noon, the totals were down to 176 and 1, respectively.
Alan Dunham, a meteorologist with the NWS in Boston, said early Thursday that his office was sending a team to do a storm survey in the Coventry area. A spokesman with the NWS New York office said his staff is coordinating with Dunham’s to assess damage in the Bozrah, Chester and Salem areas as well.