tornado in south FL

[Fire-medic]

I just got to work this morning, and was sitting in an office when there was a loud continuous noise, the lights and computers went out, and we were wondering, "what's happened," when a co-worker's severe weather alert sounded on her phone. We heard a commotion in the hall, and someone was saying, "cars are on-top of each other in the parking lot!"

When I went outside, I saw a bunch of trees uprooted or stripped of branches, or torn in-half leaving a stub trunk protruding from the ground. A co-worker's Ford pick-up was lying on its side in the grass, and another's car was on-top of the car it was parked next-to.

It was raining, I went out into the parking lot to see if there were any people trapped in cars, or under debris, but luckily no one was trapped or injured.

Apparently a tornado came through and did the damage. The EMS students I work with got an 'up-close & personal' view of what they can expect to respond-to when they start working fire-rescue.

I tried to send a thread to the forum w/pics, just after it happened but the college server was messed-up, and the cell reception was not co-operating either. So, here it is now. My pick-up was parked behind the two cars stacked together, but it escaped being damaged.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/apparent-tornado-overturn-cars-uproot-trees-south-florida/story?id=36549086

 

[dannymax]

Wow! Very lucky it didn't hit just a little earlier as people were walking in from their cars. Have they rated it yet Philip?

 

[marsmax85]

Mother nature showing her strong arm !!

 

[caseyjones955]

I'm pretty sure mother nature is furious with mankind, at least from watching the news of one natural disaster after another. I'm glad you and those around you are ok.

 

[jfeagins]

Talk about being up close, and personal. Wow. Glad you & everyone else came out OK. I bet the avg Floridian isn't used to dodging tornados.........at least not as much as the avg Missourian around me is. Hate it when it's happening, and don't like to see it in the news for anyone else either.

 

[Tex85]

Damn, glad you are unscathed. Hell of a way to start a day.

 

[Traumahawk]

Bet it was kind of hairy for a bit. Glad that you and everyone were ok.

 

[tothemax93]

I don't know Medic... When the 2' of snow melts, my car is still upright:eusa_dance:

 

[Fire-medic]

"dannymax," funny you should mention it... earlier this past week I was researching the wind strength guides which first responders use to determine the speed of winds based upon the damage done. here's a link to a good report on south FL and the historical windstorm picture:
http://www.srh.noaa.gov/images/mfl/research/MFLSVRCLIMO_2013.pdf

On the Fujita F/EF Scale, it looks like the rating would be EF3 which is speeds to 165 mph and a three-second gust to 209 mph under the superceded Fujita Scale (the 'F' in the F/EF).

Thankfully, the path was narrow, and it receded into the atmosphere and came back down repeatedly over several miles, and left. On my way into work that morning, I had called my wife, and told her, "stay at home, work out of the house on the computer, and tell them it's too-dangerous to drive." She has a 78 mile one-way commute to North Palm Beach Co. by the W. Palm Beach Dragway, Beeline Hwy. by Indiantown Rd. I was getting hammered pretty-good by driving rain, and visibility was not great, but driveable. We have a phenomenon in south FL, people think it's OK to drive with their flashers on even though the FL Highway Patrol (FHP) is constantly telling people to follow the law: if your wipers are on, your headlights/taillights are to be on, too, and don't drive w/your 4-way flashers on! They have PSA's all the time about it. But, you still have people driving in downpours without headlights/taillights, and others w/their 4-way flashers.

I've been in a bunch of hurricanes since moving to FL over 40 years-ago as a young adult, seeking a better future, and they can be scary, but at least you have plenty of warning. I recall being on-top of a co-worker's roof after Hurricane Andrew in Miami in 1992. As far as you could see, trees knocked down, some completely uprooted, houses demolished, others showing little damage, but a widespread path of destruction miles wide. CBS structures leveled, frame structures leaving only their foundations, concrete slabs, to mark their former presence. Other masonry structures showing superficial damage. A fickle storm.

This storm wasn't wide, it didn't last long, but it had the fortunate path to hit mostly unoccupied open areas and avoided occupied structures. Another couple hundred feet and it would have scored a direct hit on the building I was in. I'm not a window office, so I would have fared well, I believe. I'm glad it didn't happen that way.

 

[jfeagins]

..

 

[Redbone]

Man a close one! That's why I like the predictable weather even though it may be cooler, if your prepared it's a non issue. Tornado's, hurricanes and flooding are not issues we have to deal with.
We had some snow (3-4") and little freezing rain this afternoon, a normal winter day except for the freezing rain. Last winter my area did have a little snowfall, but no issues like western New York suffered even though we had over 40" more snow.
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/ne...ations-snow-capital-sault-ste-marie/70409814/