DESTRUCTION IN CENTRAL FLORIDA

[BobbyinNY]

There was an overnight storm that ripped through Central FL last night - Hundreds of homes have been destroyed.. It's all over the news.....

[palmsrgreat]

What a shame, I am watching Fox News and it looks terrible. My prayers go out to all affected.

[Eric in Orlando]

We didn't have a real bad storm in Orlando, just about an inch of rain. Just to the north was where they hit, I guess a lot of homes damaged or destroyed and it sounds like there were some deaths. This is the 2nd outbreak of tornados in central FL this winter. This is because of the El Nino, FL usually doesn't get these severe type tornados.

[Trópico]

Well about 6:00 AM I woke up to the loud rain and thunder/lightning but no significant wind in my area. It was pretty nasty!

[Dave-Vero]

Fourteen known deaths as of 10:45 this morning, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

[Palmarum]

I'm watching it on the news now, it looks really bad. Nothing's worse than a tornado hitting at night. About 20,000 people are without power, and search and rescue is underway. It looks like Volusia county was hit the hardest. I hope any forum members up that way did ok.  Some hardened houses about 100 years old were flattened, and newer concrete homes were destroyed. Four counties are now declared disaster areas, with maybe more being added to the list.

Ryan

[SubTropicRay]

Tornados

[SunnyFl]

Prayers for all who have been in the path of the tornados and lost homes and famiily members - what a tragedy.

Ryan wrote:

Nothing's worse than a tornado hitting at night

This is true.  And anyone in FL reading this - you really need to get a NOAA radio with the alarm.  It can be a lifesaver in these horrible night storms.

It is definitely El Nino - like the EN back in Feb 98, when killer tornados struck Central FL, again at night.  or the mess in '93.

Sometimes I think this state is cursed.

[Alicehunter2000]

We had torrential rains up here yesterday 3 1/2 inches and some lightning and tornado watch. I was going to comment on it but didn't really think much more about it after it quit. Sure didn't know this was going to happen downstate.......devestating.

[SunnyFl]

In case anyone is interested........

Back around last Christmas, the whooping cranes in Wisconsin were beginning their migration to FL - behind an ultra-lite aircraft.  The birds were being taught migration by a human.  Really amazing when you think of it.

When they made their landing in FL, they were greeted with cheers.  They were taken to the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge where they were kept behind the safety of netting for their protection.

All 18 cranes were killed by the storms.  Tragic.

And the human death toll is even higher.  It's now 20.