A rare Rhode Island tornado lifted a car off an interstate highway Friday as severe weather swept already storm-weary New England, damaging homes, flooding roads and toppling trees.

Tornadoes were reported in several spots in the same general area of Rhode Island and Massachusetts, but officials said it wasn’t yet clear whether it was one or multiple twisters. No injuries were reported.

Firefighters rushed to help the startled motorist on Interstate 295 and found her unharmed from her encounter with a tornado, Johnston Fire Chief David Iannuccilli said.

“The driver said she got caught in the funnel, was lifted 10 feet in the air and was dropped back down on her tires,” Iannuccilli said. “She was shaken up more than anything.”

The tornado also moved through wooded areas and residential neighborhoods, Iannuccilli said. Meteorologist Glenn Field with the National Weather Service said the tornado was confirmed by radar and lifted tree limbs and other debris.

Tornado touchdowns were also confirmed in North Attleborough and Mansfield, Massachusetts, in the same general area as Johnston, the weather service said. And a fire official said a tornado damaged three homes in North Providence.

Hayden Frank, a weather service meteorologist, said it’s too early to tell whether one or multiple tornadoes touched down. Survey teams will likely not determine that until Friday evening. The strength of the tornadoes also had not yet been determined.

Across New England, storms damaged homes and cars and made for hazardous driving. A few thousand power outages were reported. High winds damaged a home in Brockton, Massachusetts.

The hardest-hit communities in Rhode Island were Johnston and Scituate, with less damage in North Providence, Cumberland and Providence, said Melissa Carden, state emergency management spokesperson. Most damage reports were of toppled trees and downed power lines.

The storms took down about 100 trees at Highland Park Memorial Cemetery in Johnston, cemetery president Joseph Swift said.

Parts of Vermont, meanwhile, faced the possibility of flash flooding even as residents and businesses rebuild from extensive flooding this summer.

The weather service said central, northeastern and southern Vermont were under a hazardous weather outlook into Friday night, with the forecast calling for thunderstorms capable of producing flooding. Damaging winds were also possible.

Rain was expected in Vermont into Saturday, with some areas getting as much as an inch (2.5 centimeters). Storms earlier in the summer dropped as much as two months’ worth of rain in parts of the state in the span of a couple of days.

Rockingham and Strafford counties in New Hampshire and York County in Maine were under flood advisories, while Essex County, Massachusetts, was under a flood warning.

New England usually gets only a few tornadoes a year, Frank said. Most — but not all — are relatively weak.

In 2011, a powerful tornado killed three people and caused severe damage in western Massachusetts.

And in 1953, a tornado killed 94 people and injured nearly 1,300 in central Massachusetts, including the city of Worcester. It had winds estimated at more than 300 mph (480 kph), last nearly an hour and a half, and damaged or destroyed 4,000 buildings.

(AP)