EF-1 tornado rips off roofs in Washington State

LONGVIEW, Wash. -- A tornado with winds surpassing 50 mph ripped roofs off buildings, launched large yard toys through windows, uprooted trees and sent residents scrambling in Cowlitz County Thursday afternoon.

The National Weather Service confirmed the tornado was an EF1 on the tornado scale.

The tornado carved a skipping path through neighborhood streets and into downtown Longview before vanishing in the dark sky a short time later.

Denny Malloy was driving through Longview when the wind started swirling around his truck.

"I saw what looked like an enormous dust devil and then these large panels off a roof started falling everywhere," he said. "It seemed like everyone was pretty stunned."

Then, he watched in shock as the wind ripped the roof off a nearby appliance store.

Kelly LaBeau pulled up just as the roof lifted off an assisted living facility in Longview.

"I said to myself, what is going on? There aren't tornadoes in Longview?'" he said.

The wind also blew the roof off the gym at Kessler Elementary School, but the kids were outside playing in the rain at the time and didn't even notice, school officials said.

Photos: Tornado causes damage in Longview, Wash.

A woman named Flo said she was driving home with her granddaughter and was lucky enough to get inside before it hit her car.

"We ran in the house real fast. I said 'Oh my God, is that a tornado?' And then I told my granddaughter 'Get in the house! Get in the house!'" she said.

Flo said she noticed that the twister touched ground and then lifted back up more than once, uprooting trees, snapping power poles and bending metal signs in random spots along her neighborhood streets.

Viewer video/photos: Tornado in Longview

At another home, Andy Bernard took a break from carving pumpkins and stepped outside to see what was making so much noise. At that moment, his outdoor trampoline came flying right at him and shot through the widow.

"It decided to take flight right at me and I ducked and the trampoline went into the house and it sucked it back out and up and over the roof and the garage, and down three quarters of the block," he said.

At another nearby home, a huge chunk was missing from a tall wooden fence. No sign of where it ended up.

Down the street, a resident was standing outside his home assessing a shattered window and chatting in disbelief on his cell phone.

No injuries have been reported at this time. Authorities said the worst debris and damage appeared to be near the intersection of 10th Street and Vandercrook Way in Longview.

Chris Cook was inside 360 Auto Care, in Kelso, when debris started spinning in the city block around him.

"It sounded like rumbling, just massive, massive rumbling," he said. "The wind peaked up and started hitting us."

Then, he and a friend safely got inside the shop.

"If he'd [his friend Jeremy] been outside just 10 seconds later, I don't know what would have happened."

Officials with the Department of Emergency Management alerted people to "stay away from windows and off phones" and beware of downed power lines in the Longview and Kelso areas when the twister touched down.

At one point authorities said the tornado appeared to be heading toward the Cowlitz Way Bridge. Then, around 1:30 p.m., they tweeted that it was breaking up north of Kelso, but could be followed by more severe weather.

Just after 2 p.m., the National Weather Service officially confirmed that the Longview twister was in fact, a tornado. It explained: "Tornado began near Safeway on 15th Avenue in Longview, WA, then traveled 6 blocks down Vandercook Way."