PARSIPPANY — Emergency dispatchers at the Morris County Office of Emergency Management had a front-row view of the tornado that touched down in Parsippany-Troy Hills on Tuesday, July 21, watching the rotation from their windows as the county’s 911 center lit up with calls from residents.
“The operators were all actually looking out the window at the time and did see the rotation,” OEM Director Jeffrey Paul said.
The National Weather Service later confirmed the twister as an EF-1, with peak winds estimated between 80 and 90 miles per hour. The tornado touched down near the Topgolf driving range on Route 46 and lasted only about a minute before dissipating. Survey crews found a large uprooted tree and a snapped power pole lying across Hook Mountain Road.
Almost 1,000 customers were without power at the height of the storm, but no injuries were reported in Morris County.
“We’re certainly grateful that we didn’t have the type of volume that we had on the last storm,” Paul said.
The Parsippany tornado was one of three EF-1 twisters the National Weather Service confirmed touched down in Morris County during Tuesday’s severe weather outbreak, along with tornadoes in the Lower Berkshire Valley section of Roxbury Township and near Stanhope. The Roxbury tornado carried the strongest winds of the three, estimated between 100 and 110 miles per hour.
County officials thanked residents who shared photos, videos and real-time reports throughout the storm, saying the information provided valuable situational awareness even though emergency personnel were unable to respond to every call individually.
