A violent waterspout swept ashore on Long Island Thursday evening, transforming into a small tornado that ripped apart beach club structures and sent debris flying across the sand.
Stunning video captured the funnel advancing toward East Atlantic Beach as stunned witnesses watched the chaos unfold.
The massive spout formed just offshore in Nassau County before gradually moving inland around 6:45 p.m.
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It tore through businesses and cabanas near the boardwalk, then dissolved shortly after reaching land.
Nassau County declared a state of emergency as officials responded to the exceptionally rare weather event.
Emergency crews began checking damaged structures while authorities worked to determine whether anyone had been trapped beneath the wreckage.
“A tornado touched down in Nassau County minutes ago in Atlantic Beach,” Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said in a statement.
He added that “so far there are no reports of casualties or serious injuries.”
The tornado peeled roofs from beachside cabanas and battered several shoreline structures.
Splintered wood, broken furniture, roof sections, and other debris were left scattered throughout the clubs and surrounding beach.
“There is property damage at Silver Point Beach Club and Sun and Surf that is being assessed right now, and a search team has been mobilized to make sure no one is trapped within the cabanas,” Blakeman said.
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Unlike the usual government shuffle, crews had no time for paperwork while the beach looked like a lumber yard.
Long Beach resident Matthew Stark, 28, was inside the Sun and Surf Beach Club with nine relatives when the storm arrived.
The tugboat mate and lifelong club member said the family had taken shelter inside a wooden cabana as torrential rain pounded the area.
Stark was closing the cabana door when the wind suddenly intensified and tore away the roof.
He said everyone heard and felt a powerful rush before beams, roof material, and other debris began crashing down around them.
“I’ve never felt or experienced anything like that, kind of surreal. One second, it’s like no big deal. The next second, everything was turned upside down, quite literally,” Stark told The Post.
The damage reminded Stark of devastating tornado scenes more commonly associated with the Midwest, not a Long Island beach club.
“I’ve never seen carnage like that. It looked like the videos you see in the Midwest of like a tornado ripping through a town,” he said.
Stark called the experience “crazy,” but he and his relatives escaped without serious injuries.
He suffered only a scratch on his finger and a small bump on his head, an extraordinary outcome considering the roof and wooden beams came down around the group.
“Someone was watching out for us for sure,” Stark said.
His family’s narrow escape offered a rare piece of good news after a sudden storm turned an ordinary evening at the shore into a terrifying scramble for survival.
AccuWeather said the footage from East Atlantic Beach appeared consistent with a waterspout, which is essentially a tornado that develops over water.
The National Weather Service said the waterspout “may have come on land,” but officials needed to inspect the damage before issuing an official determination.
The weather service also reported that another possible waterspout turned tornado may have reached the Rockaways in Queens at roughly the same time.
A tornado warning covered southwestern Nassau County and portions of Queens, including Oceanside and Baldwin Harbor, from approximately 6:50 p.m. until 7:05 p.m.
Heavy rain compounded the danger across Long Island by flooding roads and trapping motorists.
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Sources reported that a woman became stuck inside a flooded vehicle near Cherry Valley Avenue and West Hempstead Turnpike.
Two or three additional vehicles were reportedly stranded on North Central Avenue in Valley Stream beneath the Southern State Parkway.
There were also reports of motorists trapped on the highway as emergency crews confronted flooding, storm damage, and the aftermath of a tornado that arrived with almost no mercy.
