A rare EF-1 tornado touched down in a small Northern California town on Saturday, flipping cars, causing significant damage and sending several people to the hospital.
The National Weather Service said the apparent tornado touched down around 1:40 p.m. local time in Scotts Valley, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) south of San Jose.
Several people were taken to the hospital with injuries, but no deaths were reported, according to a Scotts Valley Police Department news release.
PHOTO: An apparent tornado touched down in Scotts Valley causing significant property damage and resulting in several injuries. (Scotts Valley Police Department)
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“Emergency medical teams are prioritizing those most in need of care, and we continue to monitor the situation closely,” police said in the news release.
The tornado caused “significant damage” in several places, police said.
Photos shared by police on social media showed several cars on their sides along the roadway and in a shopping center parking lot.
Scotts Valley Mayor Randy Johnson joined ABC News Live on Sunday in the wake of the tornado's damage, saying the event “quite frankly surprised us because we're used to earthquakes, floods and fires.”
“Obviously it's so rare that I don't know if we have that technology to quote and alert us. But we added [it] on the list,” Johnson said, noting that cleanup and repairs were underway.
“Our public works department worked all night to clear the enormous amount of debris,” he said.
The weather service confirmed the tornado based on videos, photos, witness statements and radar and said a survey team would further examine the damage at the scene to determine how strong it was.
PHOTO: An apparent tornado touched down in Scotts Valley, causing significant property damage and resulting in several injuries. (Scotts Valley Police Department)
According to the weather service, California averages about 11 tornadoes per year, usually in the fall and spring.
Earlier Saturday morning, the weather service issued its first tornado warning for San Francisco amid a strong storm that knocked out power to thousands of people, according to ABC station KGO.
The tornado warning in San Francisco was lifted about twenty minutes later.
'Rare' Northern California tornado flips over cars, sends several to hospital originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
