As a swirling mass of black cloud swept over the Rockaways on Saturday morning, a perplexed New Yorker, his video camera rolling, wondered aloud about the cloud formation forming in front of his balcony.

Sure enough, not one but two tornadoes ripped through parts of Brooklyn and Queens on Saturday, causing as much bemusement as terror among New Yorkers unaccustomed to such aggressive weather.

As winds howled and debris flew, some ran for shelter. Others grabbed video cameras and smartphones. One video uploaded to YouTube appears to show the moment at which one of the tornadoes came ashore near Breezy Point in the Rockaways. The video shows the tornado lifting large chunks of wreckage and setting off what appear to be small electrical explosions, probably as it tore down power lines.

Another video taken from Gerritsen Beach in Brooklyn, below, shows the same tornado over water.

The National Weather Service said that the Queens tornado, which had winds of up to 70 miles an hour, touched down around 11 a.m. A short time later, another tornado touched down near Canarsie, Brooklyn, with winds of about 110 miles an hour. The storm flooded roads, felled trees and power lines and forced the delay of the United States Open. There were reports of minor damage in parts of Queens and Brooklyn.

Even without tornadoes, heavy rains and high winds caused trouble throughout the region.

Strong winds send this tree into the back seat of a Benz in Hackensack, NJ. Stay with @StormTeam4NY for latest //t.co/AsF3pC3w — Marc Santia (@MarcSantia4NY) 8 Sep 12

Bizarre and beautiful cloud formations were photographed and recorded throughout the New York area on Saturday.