Yet another severe weather event this summer has led to damage and flooding. Three tornado warnings were issued across Rhode Island and Massachusetts this morning, with one storm creating a radar-confirmed tornado. This area is being investigated by the National Weather Service to determine the tornado's strength.
The area between Scituate, Rhode Island and Mansfield, Massachusetts saw the most damage. This is the area currently being investigated. Photos from the area show numerous trees and power lines down. Fences and roof shingles were also damaged and blown away.
A Scituate, Rhode Island resident remarked that the wind direction changed and it "was like a big swirl and the wind took all the trees down."
One town over from Scituate, in Johnston, a car was said to be picked up 10 feet off the ground during the storms, which all but confirms a tornado. About 12,000 customers lost power at some point Friday morning across Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts as trees and power lines came crashing down.
Downed trees and flooding caused major issues for the MBTA as well. Just after 11am, all Haverhill line trains were announced to terminate at Andover station due to flooding. Andover was hit very hard by flash flooding just 10 days ago. Multiple trains on the Providence line were canceled due to debris on the tracks near Mansfield. All trains on the Mansfield/Stoughton line have been suspended until further notice as of 11:30am.
These storms also caused the summer of flooding to continue. Once again, flash flood warnings were issued across New England. At one point Friday morning, the entirety of eastern Massachusetts was under a flash flood warning (minus Cape Cod). All flash flood warnings have now expired.
Scenes of flooding across Massachusetts resemble many of our previous storms this summer with swamped roads and train tracks and stranded vehicles. Below is an image from Marlboro, Massachusetts.
The line of storms was mostly offshore by noon, however, the southern end remains over Cape Cod as of 12:30pm.