Tornado Watch, Forecast: New York City Struck by Twin Tornadoes, Storms Cause Power Outages All Along Eastern Seaboard (VIDEOS)

An attendee shelters herself from a sudden downpour by the Lincoln Center during New York Fashion Week in Manhattan September 8, 2012. The city was hit by wild weather including reported tornadoes in Queens and Brooklyn. (Photo : REUTERS/Andrew Kelly)

After a tornado warning was issued by the National Weather Service for Brooklyn and Queens in New York City on Saturday morning, residents were still caught off-guard when two tornadoes ended up touching down approximately a half hour later.

The first tornado came from the sea and hit the Breezy Point section of Rockaway in Queens just after 11:00 am and a second tornado touched down in Brooklyn a half hour later. The second twister, which hit the Canarsie neighborhood of Brooklyn, traveled only a half mile before dissipating. Neither tornado caused death or injury but Queens residents reported significant damage to houses and trees.

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At a surf club in Queens, the general manager reported that a tornado lifted picnic benches and dumpsters. It ripped the roofs off of several cabanas, rearranged deck chairs and lifted a metal barbecue and propane tank before depositing them in the middle of a softball field, the Huff Post reports.

"I was showing videos of tornadoes to my four year old on my phone, and two minutes later, it hit," said Queens resident Peter Maloney. "Just like they always say, it sounded like a train."

The pair of tornadoes were part of a storm system that was expected to bring heavy winds and rains throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions of the country on Saturday. According to the National Weather Service the storm went on to wreak havoc in Massachusetts, Western Connecticut and part of New Hampshire before coming to an end near Rhode Island. Power outages and widespread flooding were reported in nearly all of the affected areas.

The storms also affected areas up and down the east coast seboard. According to Dominion Virginia power, approximately 58,000 customers in northern Virginia were left without power as of 10:00 pm on Saturday night. Between 50,000 and 60,000 customers in Washington, D.C. and Maryland also reported widespread power outages.