Tornado Tears Through Cape Cod, Rips Roof Off Yarmouth Motel

YARMOUTH - Known for its perfect summers and endless beaches, Cape Cod looked more like the Midwest Tuesday after a tornado leveled trees, snapped power lines and even ripped the roof completely off a motel.

According to Capewide News, the tornado touched down in Yarmouth at 12:02 p.m., leaving extensive damage across the mid-Cape area. As of 3:30 p.m., roughly 50,000 Cape residents were reportedly still without power.

In Yarmouth, the storm had ripped the roof off of the Cape Sands Inn, located on Route 28 in the town.

Scott Quest, a Yarmouth resident, tells WBSM News he witnessed the moment the roof was torn from the structure while walking by the motel.

“I was standing right here watching the advisory come in and watched the wind come through to the roof and start picking it up.  All of a sudden just heard this horrible, horrible noise and I the whole roof just disappear. It literally just disappeared. All of the debris and materials from inside, people’s belongings just got sucked out. Everything landed behind the building,” said Quest.

“Luckily, there were no injuries. The tornado went straight through the hotel here and continued on up the street.”

Yarmouth Police officers on scene say no injuries were reported after the building was evacuated. All roadways in the surrounding area remained either inaccessible or in standstill traffic by late afternoon.

The Cape tornado came just hours after the south coast was hit with extreme thunder and lightning storms paired with torrential downpours. As a result, sections of Route 18 near the New Bedford waterfront, among other areas in the region, saw flood-related conditions.

Boston sportswriter, TV and radio personality Jon Tomase snapped a photo of lightning striking a telephone pole on West Island, sharing the image to Twitter.

On Tuesday morning, another round of torrential rain was dumped on the south coast before the storm traveled to Cape Cod.

State resources remain on scene into Tuesday night assisting in the cleanup effort from Bourne all the way down to Harwich.

This Story will be updated.