NWS confirms tornado touched down in Portland, tracked a mile
PORTLAND, Ore. — The National Weather Service confirmed late Monday night that a tornado touched down in North Portland earlier in the evening.
NWS said it hit at 5:24 p.m. and had a track length of about one mile. At its largest, it was 40 yards wide.
Officials determined it was an EF-0 twister -- which is the weakest kind -- with winds gusting to 80 mph. Its course to it through the area of Northeast 10th and Wygant and Northeast 29th and Skidmore.
“It’s an interesting storm, because for most of the day we had fair skies and mild temperatures,” said KATU Meteorologist Dave Salesky. “Out of this system, we had record rainfall -- 0.54 inches, over a half-inch of rain recorded at PDX. Most of that falling in a 45-minute period.”
The summer storm swept across parts of the northern Willamette Valley and southwest Washington on Monday afternoon, bringing with it rain, hail and downed trees.
Storm damage was reported in several areas, including Northeast Going Street and Northeast Skidmore and 30th. Trees and power lines were blown over on Going, and a KATU viewer sent in photos showing some of the shingles had been blown off his roof.
Two large trees toppled over onto a house in the Sabin neighborhood on Northeast 16th. Anna Bleier saw it happen.
As she pulled in front of her house, her neighbor's two giant trees tipped over in the violent wind.
"It was scary. We were all shaking. We got out of the car. We were all shaking," she said.
At around the same time, her other neighbor, Robert Linnemann, shot video showing debris flying through the air and tree branches whipping in the wind. Then the glass in one of his windows shattered.
On Going, Randy Blazak drove by one as a tree crashed onto power lines.
"The tallest tree in the neighborhood just crashed on these power lines, and so lots of explosions. And just really heavy rain. It was very disorienting," he said.
Afterward, neighbors were walking around stunned, with fire police and volunteer crews blocking off dangerous areas.
KATU also received reports of hail the size of dimes in some areas, including the west side -- like Forest Grove, Cornelius, and Hillsboro. | LATEST FORECAST
Other people reported strong, swirling wind in neighborhoods of Northeast Portland. Several people captured video of a debris cloud over the area.
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