National Weather Service confirms tornado struck Atlantic Beach on Long Island

The National Weather Service confirmed a tornado struck Long Island’s Atlantic Beach Thursday evening. 

“Radar data, video of the waterspout coming onshore, and damage reports in the vicinity of the Sun and Surf Beach club in Atlantic Beach allow for confirmation of a tornadic touchdown in this area,” the National Weather Service said in a statement Friday morning. 

It’s the first confirmed tornado in Nassau County since 2021.   

The NWS said “there was another circulation about one mile farther east, that could have spawned a shoreward moving watersport in the Atlantic Beach and Five Towns area of far southwestern Nassau County.” 

The NWS said there were no damage reports as yet associated with that waterspout. 

Damage from the tornado and Thursday’s storms prompted a state of emergency in Nassau County, which was lifted Friday morning. 

County Executive Bruce Blakeman discussed the tornado in a news conference Friday morning. 

“Yesterday, at approximately 7:11 p.m., we had a tornado touched down here in Atlantic at the Sun and Surf Beach Club,” Blakeman said at a news conference Friday morning. 

The National Weather Service has since clarified that the tornado hit at 6:50 p.m. 

He said there was “extensive damage” but no serious injuries were reported. 

“Tornadoes form in an instant. And in this case, it started off over the ocean, worked its way over the land here in Atlantic Beach. And luckily, there were no other tornadoes that popped up here in the region,” Blakeman said.

Photos show serious damage at beach clubs in the area, including Sun and Surf Beach Club. 

A tornado warning was issued for parts of the county from about 6:45 p.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday evening.

The Inwood Fire Department said about 50 cabanas were damaged or destroyed, and there was only one reported minor injury. That individual, who is a club employee, suffered a minor head injury and refused medical attention at the scene, fire officials said.

Inwood Fire Chief Josiyah Green said no one was trapped in any of the cabanas or had to be rescued.

“Best I can call it is luck,” he said. “Just by the grace of luck that a lot of people weren’t hurt here because this beach club is a very popular place during the summer.”

The beach club, along with Silver Point, will be temporarily closed until further notice, club management said.

Blakeman also said Thursday that first responders rescued people from vehicles trapped in the floodwaters.