Rare, small tornado flips, lifts cars in Eugene parking lot

A small tornado — rare in Oregon — touched down in the parking lot of Lane Community College in Eugene late Tuesday afternoon, damaging four cars, at least two of which were flipped and one — with two people inside — lifted 5-8 feet into the air, officials and witnesses said.

No injuries were reported.

Students flocked to local TV stations’ Facebook pages to report on the tornado, as well as post images of the damage from the small, rare twister, reported shortly after 4 p.m.

About two hours later, National Weather Service forecasters in Portland confirmed that it was a small tornado. The intensity has yet to be determined.

KMTR reported four vehicles were damaged — two flipped onto their roofs, one which struck another car, and one reportedly lifted 5-8 feet into the air.

A National Weather Service forecaster told The Associated Press a security officer at the college watched the tornado touch down and a faculty member with a background in meteorology collected and forwarded photographs that outlined a damage path.

Lane Community College spokeswoman Joan Aschim said a man and woman were in a Jeep Cherokee that was briefly lifted into the air when the small tornado touched down.

She says a campus security officer told her the Jeep landed on its tires and the two people inside were unhurt. She did not know their names or whether they were students.

Student Andrew Christensen was stunned to learn that his car was one of the four. He told the Register-Guard newspaper (http://is.gd/swAGxU ) he was sitting in class when he heard about the twister. The wind picked up his silver Mitsubishi, flipped it upside down and smashed it into a grassy meridian.

Tornadoes are very rare in Oregon. Since 1950, only 105 tornadoes have been confirmed in the state, and only one rated as an EF 3.