Police and emergency crews in the city of Revere, Massachusetts, outside Boston scrambled to clean up after a rare tornado touched down on Monday, downing power lines, damaging homes and overturning at least one car, according to The Associated Press.
The National Weather Service confirmed that a tornado touched down during a storm that brought heavy rains, lightning and flooding to Boston and many of its northern suburbs, the AP reported.
City officials said there no immediate reports of serious injuries, but several people suffered minor injuries, including a baby who was in a car and hurt by flying glass and an elderly woman who suffered cuts, according to the AP.
"Given the magnitude of the storm, it's really a miracle that no one sustained more serious injuries," said Mayor Dan Rizzo, the AP reported.
State emergency management officials said they were not aware of major injuries or fatalities from the storm, according to the AP.
"Obviously we had a monumental storm come through our city early this morning," Rizzo told reporters, the AP reported. "There's widespread damage, downed power lines, telephone poles, a lot of public buildings and homes that have been damaged."
Revere police reported extensive damage to homes and trees after the violent weather, according to the AP.
Boston and cities to its northeast reported extensive street flooding from the storm, which dropped rain at the rate of 1.5 to 2 inches per hour, the National Weather Service said, the AP reported.
Live television video showed multiple buildings with roofs or walls partly pulled off and downed trees and limbs throughout the city, according to the AP.
Rizzo said many windows and doors had been blown out at City Hall, prompting an evacuation of that building, which he said is not likely to be safe to reoccupy for several days, the AP reported.
Tornadoes are uncommon in Massachusetts, although a large spate of storms in June 2011 badly damaged downtown Springfield, in the central part of the state, killing three people, according to the AP.
