National Weather Service: Tornado caused wind damage
The water spout was spotted off Lanikai at about 7 a.m. Friday.
A water spout is seen in this submitted photo.
A home on 1369 Kahili St. sustained wind damage after a backyard patio roof blew off.
A home on 1369 Kahili St. sustained wind damage after a backyard patio roof blew off.
The National Weather Service says a tornado likely caused wind damage in Lanikai and Enchanted Lake this morning, leaving blown roofs and other damage in its path.
A damage survey team talked with witnesses and looked at photo and video evidence and damage patterns today and determined that a waterspout, reclassified as a tornado when it came ashore in
Lanikai, was about 20 yards wide and traveled about 1.5 miles in 15 minutes to Enchanted Lake, where it dissipated at about 7:30 a.m.. The weather service investigators estimate the wind speeds at 60 to 70 mph.
No serious injuries were reported this morning from the tornado or other weather events.
Photos posted on Facebook and home video broadcast on Hawaii News Now showed the waterspout offshore of Lanikai.
The storm system over the island was capable of creating severe winds and weather service forecasters reported waterspouts offshore south of Oahu late this morning.
Oahu had been under a severe thunderstorm warning, which is issued when storms can generate winds of 58 mph or higher.
Sean Brady, who shot home video of wind damage in Lanikai just after 8 a.m., said the damage was mostly on Kuailima Street. He said he didn’t see a funnel cloud, but local residents believed a tornado had touched down.
