WETHERSFIELD, Conn. -- The National Weather Service confirmed Saturday that an F1 tornado touched down Friday evening in Wethersfield.

Members of the National Weather Service surveyed damage in Wethersfield and Farmington Sunday and said damage in towns surrounding Hartford was caused by straight-line winds, but that a narrow tornado had formed in Wethersfield.
The NWS said winds in the town reached speeds between 85 and 100 MPH. A full report was expected to be released on Sunday.

Moderate damage is associated with tornadoes measuring F1 on the Fujita scale, which goes to F5.

The town's mayor called Wethersfield a disaster area on Saturday.

“We know the damage is extensive, said Mayor Andrew Adil. “There are seven houses uninhabitable and 70 damaged – that doesn’t include cars and personal property.”

Department of Homeland Security officials also toured the town on Saturday, which is the first step for the town to try and receive federal aid for affected families.

Town officials said 5,000 electrical customers were in the dark Saturday morning and could remain without power until the evening.

Town officials asked people to avoid coming to the town on Saturday and Sunday and said many businesses were closed. The DMV and the town library were also closed on Saturday.

Residents were asked to remain inside their homes if it was safe to do so.

The strong storms caused a tree to fall on a home at the corner of Church and Garden streets, slicing it in two. A crowd of people had gathered at the home Friday night and all expressed shock.

“I just walked up here and started crying for these people,” said Paul Gulino, of Wethersfield.
Wethersfield resident Doug Otis said he’s grateful the tornado didn’t damage his house.

“Trees are everywhere, it’s just amazing because I have never seen anything like this before,” he said.

During the height of the storm, strong winds whipped through the state and golf-ball sized hail poured from the sky.

Businesses were left without power on the Silas Deane Highway, including Connecticut Outfitters, which suffered some of the worst damage. The wind and hail took out four front windows.

“If you go around the building, there’s glass blown 100 feet in every direction,” said Blain Anderson of Connecticut Outfitters. “We had to rush all customers to the back of the store. Went to the front, it’s absolutely annihilated.”

Damage was also extensive across Farmington, where trees knocked down power lines and caused Route 4 to remain closed overnight.

Trees were also uprooted in Glastonbury and East Hartford. An East Hartford home on Overlook Drive suffered fire damage.

“When this tree split, it fell on power lines, the live wires sparked the fire, melting away the siding,” said neighbor Eric McFarland.

Thousands of residents across the state remained in the dark on Saturday, with Connecticut Light & Power reporting nearly 20,000 customers without power at 2 p.m. Wethersfield and Farmington were the hardest hit by the outages.