At a Glance

An EF2 tornado left major structural damage in Port Orchard, Washington, Tuesday afternoon.Authorities said no serious injuries were reported.The twister was in progress just 15 miles southwest of Seattle.At least 50 buildings were damaged, authorities said.

At least 50 buildings were damaged in the town of Port Orchard, Washington, by an EF2 tornado that struck the town Tuesday afternoon.

The National Weather Service was in progress just before 2 p.m. local time Tuesday. Minutes later, local news helicopters showed serious damage to several homes in one neighborhood, including one that had its roof ripped off.

"There's roofs ripped off of things. There's windows bashed in. There's (power) lines down everywhere. ," local resident Emily Silverman told KOMO-TV. "There's big chunks of metal everywhere. It's just bad. It's really bad."

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Local authorities said no serious injuries were reported in the tornado that sent debris some 6,000 feet into the air.

"If I could describe the house, it would be roofless," John Mueller, whose red home suffered some of the worst damage, told KOMO. "The entire upstairs is gone. There's 2x4 and 4x4s sticking out of the walls. Glass shattered everywhere. The downstairs is just full of water and broken glass. ... I think (the tornado) landed on top of the house. There's no garage door ... there's nothing left."

The National Weather Service surveyed the damage and rated the twister EF2 with peak winds estimated at 120 to 130 mph. The tornado was in progress for 1.4 miles and , the damage survey revealed.

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It's the first F2/EF2 or stronger tornado confirmed in the state of Washington , according to the Tornado History Project. In Kitsap County, where Port Orchard is the county seat, only one other tornado has been confirmed since 1954 – an F0 twister that struck on April 9, 1991, the website also said.

"A low-pressure system west of British Columbia sent surges of moisture into the Pacific Northwest on Tuesday as a cold front slid eastward across Washington state," said weather.com meteorologist . "Tornadoes are rare in the state, where just shy of three tornadoes touch down in an average year, typically in the late spring or early summer."

Port Orchard is located about 15 miles southwest of Seattle and is home to some 13,000 people.

Structural damage is seen from the air after a tornado struck Port Orchard, Washington, on Tuesday, Dec. 18, 2018. (Twitter/Trooper Chelsea Hodgson)