ATLANTIC BEACH, NY — A tornado touched down in Atlantic Beach Thursday night, damaging cabanas at the two beach clubs and leaving a staff member there injured, county officials said.
"A tornado touched down in Nassau County minutes ago," County Executive Bruce Blakeman said Thursday night.
In a statement Friday, the National Weather Service said a waterspout had travelled along the southeastern portion of the Rockaway and made landfall in Atlantic Beach between 6:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.
According to county fire officials, a call for severe wind damage at the Sun n Surf beach club in Atlantic Beach came in at 7:12 p.m., with the Inwood Fire Department first to respond. Firefighters found 30 one-story cabanas either damaged or destroyed at that club, officials said, and activated a major response from County Technical Rescue Teams.
The Nassau County Fire Marshal's office reported that one person had been injured in the wind storm, a worker at the Sun n Surf Beach Club who refused medical attention.
Blakeman — an Atlantic Beach resident — said he had declared a state of emergency in Nassau County Thursday night, adding that county search teams had been mobilized to make sure no one was trapped in the cabanas on an evening where reports had come in of people trapped in their vehicles due to flooding along the south shore.
As of Thursday night, county fire officials reported just the one injury, with no further injuries to first responders or civilians. Fire officials reported no fatalities Thursday night.
Sun and Surf Beach Club released a statement Thursday night saying that both Silver Point and Sun and Surf would be closed until further notice.
"We are working with local authorities and assessing the damage to ensure both clubs are safe before reopening," the beach club's statement read. "Please do not enter either club until an official all-clear has been issued."
Meanwhile, nearby New York Beach Club announced that it would be allowing Sun and Surf members to use club amenities for free with display of their Sun and Surf club ID.
In a statement, Blakeman said he had been in contact with Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine and would coordinate on regional response in other parts of Long Island if necessary. In total, there were about 200 firefighters at the scene Thursday night, fire officials said, from across 13 fire departments, county hazmat teams, police department emergency personnel and county emergency management officials.
Elsewhere on Long Island, a concert at Jones Beach was disrupted by a shelter in place order Thursday, while City of Long Beach officials confirmed Friday that there had been no reports of damage within the city limits.
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