Westchester homeowners clean up after NWS experts confirm tornado from Purchase to Rye Brook

Officials with the National Weather Service are surveying damage in Westchester County on Wednesday left behind by severe storms on Tuesday.

The NWS confirmed an EF-0 tornado touched down from Purchase to Rye Brook with estimated peak winds at 85 mph.

Torrential rain hit the region hard and fast and some areas recorded nearly five inches of rain.

A woodchipper was hard at work on Dorchester Drive in Rye Brook where limbs from trees littered yards and a huge maple limb nearly crashed into a home.

Cellphone video from Lawridge Drive showed a fire in the street, caused when trees crashed into power lines.

Con Edison responded quickly, but some homes were left without power.

It was just after 4 p.m. on Tuesday when the skies darkened and the winds picked up.

Residents were aware of the Tornado Watch in the area so they took to their basements to stay safe as a precaution.

None of the downed trees fell on houses and no residents were injured in the area, but there were certainly some scary moments.

"The wind was blowing so fiercely, that tree, the maple over there, was completely flat." said homeowner Laurie Landes. "And I yelled to my husband, 'Get to the basement!' And we went to the basement and we hung out there until everything quieted down."

"It was a very isolated area in Rye Brook, in the Country Ridge area," said village administrator Christopher Bradbury. "Most of the damage was tree damage and some power lines out, there was only about 20 outages, and Con Ed was there very quickly and we're working to restore the power and clear the roads together with our highway team."

There was also damage in neighboring Purchase. The village administrator submitted photos to the Westchester Department of Emergency Management, which in turn, forwarded them to the National Weather Service.