An EF-1 tornado touched down as powerful storms moved over the South Shore of Long Island Thursday, destroying a nearby beach club and fueling a state of emergency declaration in Nassau County. The tornadic waterspout was spotted off Atlantic Beach in Nassau County, just across the Reynolds Chann el from Far Rockaway, Queens. It came around the same time a tornado warning was issued for the area. Video showed the waterspout just offshore, heading toward land. National Weather Service teams are surveying the area later Friday but have already confirmed the tornado, based on radar and other evidence. Chopper 4 was canvassing the scene Friday morning. Debris littered the beach. Significant damage was apparent. As one person who witnessed the scene unfolding said, “Holy s***.” Officials from the National Weather Service (NWS) toured the damage Friday, determining it was an EF-1 tornado with wind speeds topping out at 97 mph. It traveled just over a third of a mile on land, moving southeast from the mouth of East Rockaway Inlet to the south-facing shore of Atlantic Beach. At its peak, it was as wide as the length of a football field. Radar data shows there was another rotation about a mile away, in the Rockaways, that may also have come ashore. The NWS said it hadn’t received any damage reports there as of Friday morning. As for the Sun and Surf Beach Club, officials got a call about severe damage, and that’s what they found. Parts of the club were torn to shreds, with 50 cabanas damaged by the powerful winds, officials said. Despite the roofs torn off and extensive damage to some parts, other areas of the club were fine. One worker refused medical attention at the scene. The general manager of the beach club said there were about 100 people there when the tornado hit, but no serious injuries were reported. Stephen Schaffer, the chief lifeguard at the club, was about to head home with his two daughters when the storm rolled through the parking lot. He said his daughters escaped back inside, though his car was among the tornado’s first victims. “Something struck the back of the car and blew the windows out. And then all these cars parked here, 30 plus, all the windows started exploding,” said Schaffer. The club said it will remain closed until further notice. Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman declared a state of emergency as a result of the damage, and said first responders rescued people trapped in their vehicles during flooding. The storms were triggered as a low-pressure system slid through the region, bringing pockets of heavy rain strong enough to trigger flash flooding for many in the New York City area. Streets flooded from East Meadow, on Long Island, to Elizabeth and Bloomfield, in New Jersey. In other parts of the city, flooding caused part of the Long Island Expressway in Queens to close in both directions, according to New York City Emergency Management — the third time so far this summer the highway turned into a river. Photos on social media showed lines of stopped cars as emergency crews traversed the water. In Harlem, video showed a flooded subway station at 137th Street — a common sight throughout the five boroughs during such heavy rainstorms. Other videos showed commuters trekking up waterlogged stairs. In Jersey City, emergency crews rescued 69 people trapped in cars that were overtaken by flash flooding, said Mayor James Solomon. Emergency crews used small inflatable boats to reach people who were stranded. This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser. ...read more read less