Tornado touched down on Block Island

NEW SHOREHAM, R.I. (AP) -- The National Weather Service says that the first tornado to ever hit Block Island touched down there during a storm earlier this month.

The announcement came in a public information statement released Monday by the weather service's Taunton, Mass., office. The statement said that at about 4 p.m. on Aug. 10, a "tornadic waterspout" over waters south of Block Island moved northward and touched down on land.

The service said the tornado's wind speed maxed out at 70 miles per hour and it covered about four miles in a path that was 20 yards wide at its widest point.

The weather service said the tornado downed dozens of trees, damaged property and threw deck furniture 100 yards.

Just a few days later on Aug. 15, another water spout formed in Narragansett Bay off the coast from Quonset in North Kingstown.

• Photos: Narragansett Bay water spout

That water spout never made land.