Tornado Rips Through Summit

A tornado cut a swath of damage Monday morning in Berkeley Heights, before tearing through New Providence and Summit, according to the National Weather Service in New York.

From 9:17 a.m. to 9:25 a.m., the EF-0 tornado ripped a path measuring nearly 50 yards wide and spanning 4.8 miles long, with estimated wind speeds at 85 mph, according to the NWS. No injuries were reported.

“The tornado touched down in Berkeley Heights near the Passaic River just west of Garfield Street,” according to an NWS Public Information Statement. “It passed northeast through New Providence and lifted in Summit near Evergreen Road.”

There was extensive tree damage observed along the tornado path, according to the statement. The greatest damage was sustained at the Sewage Treatment Plant near Snyder Avenue in Berkeley Heights. 

"The National Weather Service also interviewed an eyewitness of the tornado for additional confirmation," according to the statement. "Straight line winds were also observed to the south and east of the entire tornado path."

NWS had a survey team out in all three communities Monday afternoon and evening to determine the storm’s damage.

Summit’s Emergency Management Coordinator Chris Cotter had just finished meeting with a National Weather Service survey team around 8 p.m. Monday after the team had toured damaged city areas.  

“[National Weather Service has] a couple things they have to do before they post that so I don’t know if [a tornado] did or it didn’t [touch down in Summit],” Cotter said. “They were leaving here to go back into New Providence and Berkeley Heights. They had to do a little more assessment there and then they were going to be contacting their office.”

According to NJ.com, Berkeley Heights Mayor Joe Bruno announced Monday afternoon that he was told by NWS representatives that it was, in fact, a tornado that knocked over dozens of trees this morning.

Residents of Snyder Avenue and La Secla Place in Berkeley Heights told the Independent Press that they thought it could have been a tornado that ripped through the area on Monday morning.

A portion of Snyder Avenue, measuring several hundred feet long, was marked off by police on Monday, according to the Independent Press report, which was investigated by two NWS meteorologists.

“Where you see trees and branches lying in a straight line, it is more typical of straight winds, and where to see trees in multiple directions, they’re indicative of a tornado,” Patrick Maloit, a senior meteorologist out of Long Island, N.Y., told the Independent Press after following an investigation of the marked off area. “A lot of things look like straight-line winds.”

NWS issued a Tornado Warning between 9 and 9:30 a.m. for the Summit area. Right around that time, Fox 5 news reported rotation could be seen in the clouds above New Providence.