Toto - I don't think we're in Kansas anymore...

Auntie Em, Auntie Em, it was a twister, it was a twister!! Well folks, Wednesday morning Brooklyn and more specifically, our neighborhood of Bay Ridge, was hit with it's first ever tornado. Many have called and e-mailed to see if we are okay and the answer is - Yes! We were not even bothered by the storm except for being rudely awakened by the thunder and lightning through our skylight. I got up around 6am to move my computer out from directly under the skylight (in case there was any leaking!) and was amazed by the quick bursts of light through the windows. We weren't aware that only 4 blocks down the road, a 100+ mph twister was ravaging parts of Bay Ridge.

My car was left unharmed, which is more than I can say for approximately 40 other cars who were crushed by falling trees. I had no trouble getting to work (Damn my office for only being 10 blocks away!), but some of my co-workers had a 4 hour commute due to flooding.

I had no clue as to the damage until I drove home. I wasn't able to turn down 5th Avenue like I do every day, because the Nissan dealership on the corner had its roof blown off and the traffic light had been knocked down. I was stuck in bumper to bumper traffic down 4th Avenue because of all of the firetrucks. I noticed that awnings had been blown off of buildings down 4th Avenue, but didn't get the true extent of the damage until I saw the 4th Avenue Presbyterian Church, which was now missing it's stained glass windows. I looked down Bay Ridge Avenue and saw trees covering the streets and tons of firemen working to remove the debris.

It's so scary to me that this could happen in Brooklyn but am so thankful that we were narrowly missed. Most of the damage caused by the tornado was only 4-8 blocks from our apartment. Our skylight could have been shattered, my car could have been crushed...but it wasn't.

Here are a few pictures of the damage, which I'm sure most everyone has seen since it has been in the news.

I thought this was particularly interesting because that tree is sitting on an exact replica of my old car.




Here's a before picture of the 4th Avenue church...




...and this is after the storm.




Sam and I will try to get out and survey the damage to the 'hood. Thank you everyone for the concern...