Incredible wind, one dead, countless trees down, rail service to Long Island suspended.

Wonder if thats the one that blew by me, about 6:30 we had the roof blown off of a school gym, it was headed that way.

the weather guy in Minneapolis was quite smug about the lack of tornado's in Minnesota today while NEW YORK CITY of all places got hit this time around....bad news for you guys,be careful with the chain saws.

We were looking at the videos of all the trees down.
My wife said "out here, 8 local residents would show up with chainsaws, clear the road, and get back to work."

Same with neighbors near my home in WA. They'd not only clear the road, they'd clean up the firewood. . .

I actually bugged out with my kids for this one. Really interesting experience.

The weather reports had been talking all day about heavy rainstorms coming our way in the late afternoon. At around 5:30 I was out with the kids riding bikes when they sky started to look very dark. We headed home, and just as we arrived I got a text message from my Chief that a tornado warning had been issued.

I turned on the TV and the first thing I heard was of a tornado touching down in central Queens, heading east towards Nassau County. FYI, I'm in the first town in Nassau, just east of the Nassau/Queens border. In other words, there was a decent potential a tornado was on the ground heading my way, with about 5 minutes to go before arrival.

I hustled the kids (and my friend who was visiting) into the car and drove the 500 yards to my firehouse (takes one minute), which was supposedly engineered to withstand a CAT 5 hurricane. Saw some of the scariest looking clouds coming our way that I've ever seen. Went inside just as the Chief showed up, also looking for shelter.

Anyhow, we got some strong wind and rain, but nothing too bad. I went to check on my mom after the all clear came through to the firehouse, and found her huddled in her laundry room with the dog. Interior most room in her house!

My wife, however, got stuck on the Long Island Railroad for a few hours. Her train could not get through due to downed trees, and returned to NYC. She wound up taking the subway all the way east in Queens and I picked her up that night. I explained to my four-year old that mommy would be home late because some trees fell on the train tracks. He looked puzzled and asked me why the people didn't just get out of the train and work together to move the trees so they could all get home! The wisdom of kids. . . He was, btw, incredibly freaked out by the whole experience.

After action evaluation: If a tornado had come through my town, my kids and I would likely have been safe, but if the house was destroyed, we would have lost everything. I didn't bother to grab anything important - just got the kids to shelter. Of course, nothing is more important than the kids - everything else in insured.

I came out of the subway in Park Slope, Brooklyn, just after the blow. Trees down all over. My street and several others were impassable. I don't think anyone here owns a chain saw. (I have one, but I got preoccupied clearing a drain that was threatening to cause basememnt flooding.) A few intrepid neighbors were doing their best with hatchets.

I helped a fellow remove a large branch that had landed on his car. To add insult to injury, he had a parking ticket still affixed to the broken windshield.

Assorted photos of the aftermath submitted by readers to the NY Times.

DesertFox - looks like Park Slope got hit pretty hard. Lots of stately old trees there! It's my old neighborhood.

We had very little wind also but a mile or two up the road it tore the roof open on a high schol gym. We've had much stronger winds before.

It was "fun" - the track went NW of me by about 1/4 mile or so. I had to get my wife (who was trying to get home) and drove through the track near my old house (where I grew up) 24+ inch diam oaks and maples down all over