What to Know
- Five tornadoes have touched down in Connecticut since mid-May.
- There were four tornadoes in Connecticut on May 15.
- A tornado touched down in Ashford on Tuesday.
An EF-0 tornado touched down in Ashford during storms Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service. This is the fifth tornado to touch down in Connecticut since mid-May.
The National Weather Service sent crews to Windham County, Connecticut Wednesday to investigate after the tornado warning that was issued yesterday and the storm that brought down trees.
A National Weather Service Team first went to Putnam and surveyed damage to the roof of Putnam Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram on Providence Pike. Employees of the dealership said the sky got dark, then strong winds and rain came through. The business is open Wednesday.
They then headed Ashford, one of the towns that was hardest hit by the storms and announced during a news conference Wednesday afternoon that an EF-0 tornado touched down briefly west of Ashford Lake, with peak winds of 80-t0-85 mile per hour winds.
The storm touched down for a minute, traveling four-tenths of a mile around 4 p.m., according to the National Weather Service.
In the aftermath of the storm, downed trees and branches that snapped and came down in the streets.
Pauline Attardo, of Ashford, said she took cover in her basement for half an hour during the tornado warning and saw all the damage when she went back outside.
Local
"The trees were just bent right over and it was getting darker. And I said, "Uh, oh." So we ran down into the cellar. We waited 30 minutes and then we came back up and saw all the devastation," Attardo said.
See photos of the storm damage here:
Your July 17 Storm Photos
There are an average of two tornadoes a year in Connecticut, but there have been as many as four to seven in a year to touch down in the state.
On May 15, 2018, there were four tornadoes in Connecticut.
An EF-1 tornado touched down in Oxford.
A second tornado developed near the center of Beacon Falls and continued into the hills of Hamden.
