Tornado lands near Santa Cruz in Northern California, flipping cars and destroying power lines

Authorities said a tornado touched down in the Northern California town of Scotts Valley, near Santa Cruz, on Saturday afternoon, overturning cars and destroying power lines. According to the fire department, several people were injured.

The incident occurred around 1:40 p.m. around the 200 block of Mount Hermon Drive. Scotts Valley police initially posted a warning on social media advising residents to avoid the area after a multi-vehicle accident that left several power lines down and the road completely down in all directions was blocked.

Police later released an update saying witnesses reported it was not an accident “but rather a possible tornado” that touched down near the Target store at 270 Mount Hermon Drive and “several cars “hurled off the road.”

The Scotts Valley Fire Protection District told CBS News that four to five people were injured in the weather event, suffering minor to moderate injuries. At least two of those people were transported to hospitals.

According to the fire department, around 20 cars were damaged.

Scotts Valley is a small town about six miles north of Santa Cruz in Santa Cruz County and not far from State Highway 17.

The National Weather Service had issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the area shortly before the tornado.

A later post from the Bay Area office of the National Weather Service on

The post noted that an NWS survey team will continue to investigate the incident to establish a ranking.

The tornado was just the latest extreme wind event associated with the powerful storm that moved across Northern California overnight. The First tornado warning in San Francisco was issued by the National Weather Service early Saturday morning just before 6 a.m., alerting residents with a cell phone alarm that woke many people, according to reports on social media.

Although this tornado did not occur, strong winds caused impacts across the entire region, including a citywide power outage in the North Bay city of Novato And a complete closure of Interstate 580 in both directions at the San Joaquin and Alameda county line following a multi-vehicle collision with a large rig due to high winds.