EAST PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) — A tornado with measured winds as high as 110 mph touched down Tuesday on Cape Cod, according to the National Weather Service.
The NWS said a “high-end” EF-1 tornado touched down twice, once in Yarmouth and another in Harwich around noon, causing “plenty of straight line wind damage.”
Communities in the Yarmouth area reported significant wind damage, including downed trees and power lines.
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No injuries were reported.
The wind blew out the front windows of the Yarmouth Post Office on Route 28, sending shards of glass, furniture and debris flying.
The storm also ripped off the roof of the Cape Sands Inn on Main Street in West Yarmouth.
Surveillance video from a nearby business shows the roof being peeled off the building in a matter of seconds.
“I couldn’t believe that was my property,” Owner of Cape Sands Inn Bobby Kahn said.
Kahn said July is when tourism is at its peak on Cape Cod. He was expecting to have no vacancies for Tuesday night and is glad the storm hit before guests could check in.
“That is what saved us, that no one was in the rooms,” Kahn said. “There was only one room, a couple of kids were there. They were shaky, but they were okay, no one got hurt.”
Kahn said he’s only owned the motel for about a year and replaced the roof nine months ago.
As cleanup begins at the Cape Sands Inn, which was condemned by a building inspector, other nearby hotels have offered to take in displaced guests.
While Kahn said the loss of revenue during repairs will make it difficult for him to pay the mortgage, he believes the situation could’ve been much worse.
“God forbid anyone got hurt and I’d have to live with that for the rest of my life, that somebody got hurt at my property and they are suffering for the rest of their lives,” Kahn said. “That would have been the toughest part to deal with. Property will be rebuilt, damage will be recovered somehow, but not life.”
