SEATTLE (AP) — A rare tornado touched down in a Seattle suburb on Tuesday, damaging several homes and toppling trees, authorities said.
Based on radar imagery and video evidence, a tornado touched down south of Port Orchard shortly before 2 p.m., said Brent Bower, hydrologist with the National Weather Service in Seattle.
“We started hearing this kind of a roaring noise and I asked my son ‘What the heck is that?’ And that’s about the time that the wind hit and it just went nuts,” Jerry Rice said.
There were no immediate reports of injuries.
The Kitsap County Sheriff’s Office called the damage “catastrophic,” saying it was contained to neighborhoods east and south of a Walmart in Port Orchard. Power lines were down and roads were closed in the area, the sheriff’s office said.
About 50 buildings were affected, Deputy Scott Wilson told the Seattle Times.
Bower said they wouldn’t be able to survey the area before it was dark and that they’d send a team Wednesday morning. They were working with emergency management partners to learn the extent of the damage.
The state averages 2.5 tornadoes a year, but December tornadoes are extremely rare, the weather service said on Twitter.
Most tornadoes in Washington are rated EF-0s with minor damage, Bower said.
Port Orchard is about 15 miles (24 kilometers) west of Seattle, across Puget Sound on the Kitsap Peninsula.