A tornado driven by a powerful winter storm moving across South Carolina ripped through trailer parks in Fort Myers and the surrounding communities in Florida on Sunday, destroying homes and causing minor injuries.
The tornado blew 118 mph (190 kph) winds and was on the ground for almost two miles (three kilometers) with a maximum path width of 125 yards (115 meters), according to the National Weather Service.
Local news outlets reported that 31 mobile homes were destroyed and 51 more had sustained serious damage, while some residents suffered minor injuries, as per the Sun Sentinel.
Iona in Lee County was one of the worst affected areas. Lee County officials said Sunday that 26 homes were destroyed and at least 62 homes are not livable, although officials were still working to confirm the exact number of homes affected by the weather incident.
Video footage shared on Twitter showed the severe damage caused at Tropicana RV Resort in Fort Myers, where dozens of homes were completely destroyed and a huge pile of debris could be seen spread across the entire park.
Edward Murray, 81, who lives in a mobile home at Windcrest and Point Breeze in Cottage Point Trailer Park, Fort Myers, told Naples Daily that he had been inside his home when the tornado picked it up and threw it on top of his neighbor’s home.
“That’s my house that’s turned upside down,” he said. “The tornado took me off my feet, blew me toward the east wall, and buried me under the sink, refrigerator, kitchen chairs, and everything else.”
The Florida Highway Patrol reported that a large tornado crossed Interstate 75 near Naples, causing a semi-truck to overturn. “Thankfully only a minor injury to semi-truck driver!” the patrol wrote.
In the Village of Holiday Lakes in Port Charlotte, Charlotte County, several homes sustained damage and several residents have been displaced, the Charlotte County government said in a Twitter post. No one was injured, it said.
Lee County Commissioner Cecil Pendergrass told reporters on Sunday that displaced residents were offered temporary shelter as power companies worked to restore power to 7,000 affected residents.
A message on the Lee County website says that 200 people have been displaced. The county has opened a shelter at Wa-Ke Hatchee Recreation Center to help those displaced by the storm and the Red Cross is providing extra help. “Residents at the temporary shelter are receiving food and water along with PPE supplies,” the message reads.
The tornadoes were driven by a powerful winter storm that touched down across parts of the East Coast of the United States over the weekend, leaving thousands without power and disrupting transport, while causing hazardous driving conditions for locals.
The dangerous winter storm system combined high winds and ice which caused freezing rain, inches of snow, and ice to fall across much of the South East, with more extreme winter weather set to come on Monday.
According to poweroutage.us 33,760 people in South Carolina and 32,854 in North Carolina had no electricity early Monday. In West Virginia, 19,405 people were left without power, while 25,011 in Georgia had no electricity.
Gale force wind warnings remain in effect for all of east-central Florida as of Sunday evening, as per NWS.
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