Tornado spawned by Tropical Storm Elsa clobbers pool club in Woodbine
WOODBINE, N.J. - Weather surveyors are investigating if a tornado ripped through Woodbine overnight Thursday as Tropical Storm Elsa slammed in the New Jersey coast leaving behind a wake of destruction.
The Ocean World pool club, a place of happy memories and countless campfires, was almost completely destroyed during Elsa's intense wind gusts and heavy rain showers.
"It seemed like something came through here and it was doing a twirling and saw it blew around through there, everything was flying in a circular mode and the pavilion was blown overtake and then the camera went dead," President for the Board of Directors at Ocean World Ken McNeeley said.
McNeeley said he was devastated to see just how intense the damage was, but also grateful that it wasn’t worse.
"There’s a lot of people here, especially on the weekends this place is packed. The pool area is packed on the weekend, other than that we’re glad nobody got hurt, that was the big thing."
Officials from the National Weather Service were on hand in the early morning hours, investigating whether or not a tornado touched down. A tree was completely ripped out of the ground, wood was scattered everywhere, and the clubhouse doors were blown off.
"Oh my God. We’re only four streets away! I don’t understand how nothing happened besides up here, like nobody’s houses were affected, that’s crazy, that’s really good luck."
McNeeley said they will clean up the pool quickly and keep Ocean World running. With no one hurt or killed, there's plenty to be thankful for.
"It could have been, well, it could have gone that way which really would have been devastating so we were lucky," he said.
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