Edward Dominic Rinck, who operates Bomber Brothers fireworks stands, saw his giant tent at Northeast 164th Avenue and 18th Street collapse in spectacular fashion. The 40-by-100-foot tent took out an estimated $100,000 worth of merchandise when it fell, Rinck said.

“I heard the clanging of those metal posts,” Rinck said. “Then there was just this horrific sound of metal snapping. It’s one of those noises you’ll never forget.”

Joan McConnell of east Vancouver’s Countryside Woods neighborhood got an unexpected visit from a neighbor. That neighbor was a maple tree.

And it didn’t bother to knock before crashing onto McConnell’s roof.

Reports of funnel cloud

The tree was one of many that fell across east Vancouver Sunday night, in what some claimed was a tornado.

“We’ve been getting reports of strong winds and a funnel cloud,” National Weather Service meteorologist Tiffani Brown said late Sunday.

Rain and lightning seen earlier in the day were part of the same unstable air mass, Brown said. But no evidence of a tornado showed up on National Weather Service radar.

The calls from east Vancouver, Camas and areas to the north started coming in at 9 p.m. and tapered off at about 9:30 p.m., Brown said.

Some in Woodland claimed they saw a funnel cloud, however, and trees there were reported damaged, and some power was knocked out.
John Chesnut, who lives in the First Place neighborhood, said the tornadolike winds knocked several thick limbs into his yard.

Esther Schrader of the Northfield Neighborhood took photographs of several downed trees on her block.

Vancouver street maintenance crews cleared downed trees that were blocking roads within a couple hours, said supervisor Bob Eichhorst. Trees blocked Southeast First Street at 155th Avenue and Southeast 157th Avenue at Second Street.

Southeast 176th Avenue at 15th Street had scattered fir tree branches and tips. “It didn’t topple trees, but it stripped them,” Eichhorst said.

West Vancouver wasn’t immune.

A treetop at Columbia and 45th streets snapped. And a broken limb hung into the parking strip at 13th and Esther streets but didn’t block the travel lane.