A tornado has caused significant damage in a town located near Seattle.
According to National Weather Seattle (NWS), the tornado touched down near Port Orchard this afternoon, shortly before 2 pm.
Port Orchard is roughly an hour west of Seattle.
Based on radar imagery & video evidence, a tornado touched down south of Port Orchard this afternoon shortly before 2 PM. We continue to work with EM partners on the extent of damage. We will not be able to survey the area before dark tonight – will send a team tomorrow morning.
— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) December 18, 2018
Until we conduct a tornado survey tomorrow morning, we can not speculate on the strength of the tornado.
— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) December 18, 2018
The tornado caused significant damage to homes and infrastructure in the area. Ted Land, a reporter with King 5 Seattle, tweeted pictures of the destruction.
Images show fallen trees that crushed vehicles, and several roofs ripped off of homes and buildings.
Just getting this pictures from our chopper. A rare tornado damaged several homes and businesses in Port Orchard, 23 miles SW of Seattle. #wawx #Tornado #wx pic.twitter.com/uFES69AydB
— Ted Land (@TedLandK5) December 18, 2018
Other residents posted images and video on social media, depicting footage of the strong winds.
Video of the #PortOrchard tornado from my Father in Law Floyd Parkins #wawx #Tornado pic.twitter.com/ZUP9XioNXK
— Kris (@LostRiverPhoto) December 18, 2018
@NWSSeattle this just happened in Port Orchard pic.twitter.com/07UlYqtWce
— zargoman (@zargoman) December 18, 2018
Here’s a few quick pictures from the wind that just swept through a small area of Port Orchard. Lots of extensive damage on Harris between Lund and Salmonberry. #KOMOnews pic.twitter.com/7MEfLI35Lr
— Jordan Treece (@JTreece406) December 18, 2018
NWS will conduct a tornado survey on Wednesday to determine the strength of the tornado.