Now it's time to pick up the pieces.

The storm that passed through Riverdale Sunday, smashing tree limbs into houses, toppling whole trees onto cars, tearing up power lines and leaving some without a place to sleep, was the first tornado to hit the Bronx since 1974, according to the National Weather Service.

The brunt of the destruction, created by winds around 100 mph, was felt by north Riverdale from Palisade Avenue to Fieldston Road, between West 250th and West 261st streets. Residents there reported broken windows from flying debris and smashed roofs from fallen trees.

The storm lasted a mere five minutes - from 2:55 to 3:00 p.m. - but the repercussions will take time to clean up.

Parts of Riverdale, especially West 250th Street and Ladd Road, look like lumber yards. Private landscaping companies have been working nonstop to cut up fallen trees and branches. Con Ed brought in extra work crews from Queens to help get power lines back up. Most roads have been cleared, but West 254th Street between Arlington Avenue and Independence Avenue was still closed, with a tree still lying on top of a car, on Tuesday morning.

And for some, things will never look quite the same.

"I always wondered what it would be like with more sun in the house. Now I'll know," said Karen Murphy, a resident of West 254th Street, trying to make light of the fact that an enormous cedar tree was lying across her front lawn, weighing down power lines and opening up her view of the sky.

Ms. Murphy was downtown during the storm and arrived at home Sunday afternoon to find her neighbors looking at the damage outside her house. She said she met more of her neighbors in an hour than she had in 13 years living there.

There were no fatalities from the tornado, but seven injuries were reported, all from the Hebrew Home at Riverdale. The injuries were minor abrasions due to broken glass. The Hebrew Home is where the tornado first touched down, according to the National Weather service. From there, the cyclone moved southeast to the intersection of West 254th Street and Riverdale Avenue.

"This is like a wartime landscape," said Stuart Boynton, a resident of Palisade Avenue, looking at a line of snapped trees in his backyard.