Storm spawned 2 twisters in NYC

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NEW YORK, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- Two tornados touched down in New York as a fast-moving violent storm moved across the southern part of the city, meteorologists confirmed Friday.

One twister with 80 mph winds hit the Park Slope neighborhood in Brooklyn during the storm Thursday afternoon, NY1 reported, and moved on a path northeast for about 2 miles. The second hit Queens a short time later with winds of about 100 mph, following a path from south of Flushing north to Bayside.

A macroburst or sudden quickening of wind speed did even more damage in the Queens neighborhoods of Middle Village and Forest Hills.

The short-lived storm was extraordinarily destructive, bringing down trees, damaging homes and businesses and killing at least one person. Local officials held a news conference Friday morning and asked residents to send pictures of damages to the city to help make a case for a state and federal disaster declaration.

"It's not going to rain pennies from heaven. If you had your car smashed, you better hope your insurance policy's taking care of it. If you have damage to your home, you have to hope that your homeowner's policy takes care of it," said U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-N.Y. "What we're trying to do here today is to try to do the best we can to get our communities back and livable again."