Brookfield, Georgetown hit by tornadoes

ERIEVILLE, N.Y. » The National Weather Service has confirmed that two tornadoes touched down in Madison County on Tuesday during a string of severe storms that pummelled Central New York.

Both tornadoes made their mark in the southern part of the county, one along Parker Hill Road in the Town of Georgetown, the NWS says, and the other in the Town of Brookfield. No injuries were reported. A survey team visited the Georgetown site on Wednesday, according to the Madison County Department of Emergency Man-

agement. The NWS made it clear that the survey is ongoing and ratings may change, initial surveying found damage consistent with an EF-1 tornado. An EF-1 twister includes windspeeds between 86 and 110 miles per hour.

The NWS says the Georgetown EF-1 touched down at approximately 4:55 p.m. with a maximum estimated wind speed of 90 miles per hour. The twister’s damage was lim- ited to a roughly 30 yards wide and one tenth of a mile long in a forest of Norway Spruce and other softwoods.

The tornado confirmed in Brookf ield, which landed roughly half an hour later than its Georgetown counterpart in a field west of Mason Road and also packed an estimated windspeed of 90 miles per hour, tracked on the ground for slightly longer with an approximately half amile path. The Brookfield tornado, according to the NWS, was also wider with an estimated width of 150 yards and partially took the roofs off of two barns, took a roof completely off a greenhouse, blew some shingles off of one home, and knocked down some two dozen trees. The Enhance Fujita Scale classifies tornadoes into the following categories:

•EF0...Wind speeds 65 to 85 mph

•EF1...Wind speeds 86 to 110 mph

•EF2...Wind speeds 111 to 135 mph

•EF3...Wind speeds 136 to 165 mph

•EF4...Wind speeds 166 to 200 mph

•EF5...Wind speeds greater than 200 mph

COURTESY OF THE MADISON COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF EMERGENCY SERVICES The path of destruction left behind by a confirmed EF-1tornado in Georgetown on Tuesday.