Rhode Island tornado lifts car as New England storms damages homes, flood roads

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A rare Rhode Island tornado lifted a car off an interstate highway Friday morning as severe weather damaged homes and swept already storm-weary New England, a fire official said.

Johnston Fire Chief David Iannuccilli said firefighters rushed to help the startled motorist on Interstate 295 and found her unharmed from her encounter with a tornado.

“The driver said she got caught in the funnel, was lifted 10 feet in the air and was dropped back down on her tires,” Iannuccilli said. "She was shaken up more than anything.”

The tornado also moved through wooded areas and residential neighborhoods, but there were no reported injuries, Iannuccilli said. Meteorologist Glenn Field with the National Weather Service said the tornado was confirmed by radar and lifted tree limbs and other debris into the air.

Elsewhere, authorities were investigating to see if there was additional tornado damage in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. Tornado touchdowns were also confirmed in Attleborough, Massachusetts, and Mansfield, Massachusetts, which are in the same general area as Johnston, the weather service said.

A tornado left three homes uninhabitable in North Providence, fire Chief John Silva said. There were no injuries reported there, Silva said.

“We have witnesses saying they heard a loud noise like a freight train, which correlates with a tornado,” Silva said. “We do have some witnesses say they did see things go in a circular motion. We believe it was a tornado trying to make its grade, touch down.”

Hayden Frank, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Norton, Massachusetts, said it’s too early tell whether just one or multiple tornadoes touched down. The agency has survey teams in the field now to determine that and will likely not make a determination until this evening. The strength of the tornadoes also had not yet been determined as of Friday afternoon.

Across New England, storms toppled trees, flooded roads, damages homes and cars and made for hazardous driving. There were also a few thousands power outages reported, mostly in Massachusetts, by midday Friday.

Parts of Vermont faced the possibility of flash flooding while residents and businesses were still rebuilding from extensive flooding this summer.

The National Weather Service said the central, northeastern and southern parts of Vermont were under a hazardous weather outlook Friday and into the night, with the forecast calling for thunderstorms capable of producing flooding. Damaging winds were also possible.

Rain was expected in Vermont into Saturday, with some areas getting as much as an inch (2.5 centimeters). Storms earlier in the summer dropped as much as two months' worth of rain in parts of the state in the span of a couple of days.

In Rhode Island, the Rhode Island Emergency Management Agency sent a team out on the field assessing damage. The agency received reports of downed trees and power lines mostly, said spokesperson Melissa Carden. There were no reports of injuries.

The hardest hit communities were Johnston and Scituate, with less damage in North Providence, Cumberland an Providence, Carden said. There were also about 1,000 customers without power as of noon, but electricity was expected to be restored quickly.

Rockingham and Strafford counties in New Hampshire and York County in Maine were under flood advisories, while Essex County, Massachusetts, was under a flood warning.

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Associated Press writer Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire, contributed to this report.