Tornado warnings across Cape Cod were allowed to expire Tuesday, but not before a confirmed tornado touched down, the National Weather Service said.
NWS radar confirmed that a tornado touched down at Trotting Park Road and Lower County Road near Route 28 in South Yarmouth about 12:05 p.m.
A team from the weather service will be deployed to the Cape to inspect the damage to determine the storm's strength and how long it was on the ground.
The weather service issued a series of tornado warnings for the Cape and the islands of Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard as a series of powerful rainstorms with high winds moved across the peninsula.
Wind gusts of 90 mph were recorded in Kalmus and gusts of 85 mph were recorded in Chatham. There were numerous reports of trees and wires down, road closures as well as damage to buildings across the Cape.
"There’s just debris everywhere. I just can’t believe how fast this storm came in," said Harwich’s Maryellen Turpin Smith, who rode out the storm in a neighbor’s basement.
A section of the roof of the Cape Sands Inn in Yarmouth was ripped off.
“I was looking out the window and I saw the roof blow up and go back down, and we ran into the bathroom to hide,” said a young guest from Belchertown.
MEMA said more than 10,000 customers were without power Tuesday, mainly across the Cape and Islands.
StormTeam 5 said historical weather records only show two other confirmed Cape Cod tornadoes -- one in 1968 and one in 1977.
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