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Tornado touches down in St. Helens, damaging property and downing trees

A small tornado hit about 45 minutes north of Portland on Tuesday afternoon.

ST. HELENS, Ore. — A small tornado touched down in St. Helens on Tuesday afternoon, causing minor damage to several homes and toppling trees.

The EF-0 tornado started along Pittsburg Road from Robinette Road around 12:20 p.m. and traveled about 1.7 miles east toward McBride Elementary School, according to the National Weather Service (NWS) in Portland. 

The tornado carried wind speeds of up to 65 miles per hour. 

Columbia River Fire Rescue said tree limbs speared through the rooftops of three houses near the school, and the roof of another house was partially blown off. 

A newspaper reported that two trees fell on a couple's property off of Pittsburg Road, narrowly missing their home. One of the trees destroyed part of the couple's back deck. 

There were also garbage cans blown over and limbs blown into streets or onto utility lines. First responders said they helped remove the limbs stuck in people's roofs and cleaned up the neighborhood.

There were no reports of injury or power outages following the event. 

"This tornado is in response to the colder air working in aloft and the generally unstable weather pattern we have. It’s possible a few more funnel clouds could spin up before sunset, but there’s a higher change of small hail than tornadoes," said KGW Chief Meteorologist Matt Zaffino. "And, this the beginning a very stormy week ahead. The strongest storm will come ashore Friday night and Saturday. Expect strong, possibly damaging winds from the coast through the valleys and into the Cascades with that one. Huge swells, over 25 to 30 feet, will create a dangerous ocean and there will be heavy snow on the Cascades."

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