At least 14 people dead in Florida Tornado

[Katys Grandad]

Tornado in Lake County Florida has claimed 14 lives and caused widespread devastation to property.

Not an area I'm familiar with but I believe it's about 50 miles north of Orlando.

[mfairhurst]

It is a place called THE VILLAGES and retired people from all over AMERICA could buy and live there as they have a golf course and all amenites for leisure when you have a lot of time on your hands ,
There are a few people that spend 6 months there and bought in the past we have a video we got before we bought our villa and did not want to be so far out ,
It has been very badly hit and the new man that took over from JAD BUSH has just visited to see for himself and they have called it a state of emergency .
Deland near DAYTONA as been bady hit as it did at ON christmas week this year .
We saw it on tv and feel sorry for them all .
MAUREEN
www.onlinefloridavillas.com/villas/1683.aspx

A tornado spawned by a violent thunderstorm leveled parts of some Central Florida communities overnight, killing at least 14 people and cutting power to more than 40,000, government and utility officials said.

Governor Charlie Crist signed a state disaster declaration for four counties, he said in a televised news conference. The National Guard is on standby, and authorities may ask for aviation units to help search for victims, said Craig Fugate, director of Florida's Division of Emergency Management.

``Our priority now is search and rescue,'' Crist said. ``We want to make sure that anyone in the affected area gets out and that we can get them out safely.''

Thunderstorms continued to move across the state, although earlier tornado warnings in southern Brevard County and northern Indian River County were canceled by 11 a.m. local time, the National Weather Service said.

Fourteen deaths in Lake County, west of Orlando, have been tied to the storm, although emergency workers were still clearing debris and conducting search and rescue operations, said Chris Patton, spokesman for the county's emergency operations center.

The Villages, near Lady Lake, was struck by the tornado about 3 a.m. local time, Patton said. Dozens of mobile homes were destroyed, houses were torn from their foundations and a nearby steel-reinforced church was demolished, Patton said.

``There's complete devastation down here,'' he said.

The twister was spawned from a so-called supercell thunderstorm, the most violent of thunderstorms, that formed in the Gulf of Mexico yesterday, said Ben Nelson, Florida state meteorologist. The tornado touched down on the border of Lake and Sumter counties and moved east through Seminole and Volusia counties, he said.

Polk and Brevard counties also reported tornado sightings earlier today, Nelson said.

Progress Energy Inc. had restored power to as many as 31,000 people by 11 a.m. local time, although about 12,000 power failures remained, said spokeswoman Lisa Newkirk. Progress, which serves 1.6 million customers in Florida, is pulling resources from across the state and bringing in outside contractors to repair lines, she said.

[SDJ]

We went to St. Augustine yesterday and travelled back early evening through the areas that were badly hit. I remarked to Alan that these mobile homes etc. wouldn't last long in a hurricane, and lo and behold it happened overnight. Eeerie!!!!!

Makes me think of the saying 'if your're in the wrong place at the wrong time' and glad we came back last night.

There have been many homes devastated and many lives lost and our hearts must go out to these poor people who have lost everything, some of them relatives also.

Sandra

[Robert5988]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:I remarked to Alan that these mobile homes etc. wouldn't last long in a hurricane, and lo and behold it happened overnight.[/quote]

I am out in Florida at the moment and my place is on the Atlantic coast south of the area where the Tornado hit; and we had Tornado warnings all morning. We just had heavy rain and rumbles of thunder - more like August than early February.

Whilst I agree that some of these mobile homes, and indeed many of the modern houses, are vunerable to the weather, we should bear in mind that this was a Tornado and not a Hurricane. It destroyed a building built to withstand an 150mph hurricane. There are not many buildings in Florida that would survive a tornado

[luckylady]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:Originally posted by Robert5988

. There are not many buildings in Florida that would survive a tornado

Not many buildings in the world can withstand a tornado.

[mrsbabypowder]

there are now 20 confirmed deaths and many more hurt, and millions of dollars in damages. the saddest deaths are a mom, dad and 1 triplet age 7.

[Robert5988]

The local news, understandably, is covering this story all the time. The now have confirmed statistics that the speed of the strongest tornado was 160-165mph.

[Susan J]

Nature - a terrifying thing isn't it -a woman was killed a couple of weeks ago, less than a mile away from me in Manchester -by a roof tile being blown off a roof and hitting her -we had some freaky storms in the UK then. Roll on summer.
Our thoughts are with the people involved in this tragedy - for those travelling -please be aware this is a long way from any tourist areas.

[Robert5988]

<blockquote id="quote" class="ffs">quote:for those travelling -please be aware this is a long way from any tourist areas.[/quote]

Not certain of the point of that statement.

Is that meant to re-assure people that 'tourist areas' are safe from such disasters.

I wonder how you define 'tourist areas' anyway.