ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Two tornadoes damaged vehicles and buildings on Wednesday while leaving thousands without power in Florida’s Tampa Bay area and Polk County, authorities said.
Most of the damage was in Pinellas County, north of St. Petersburg, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
The same storm moved east Wednesday afternoon, threatening Hillsborough and Polk counties, but the National Weather Service eventually lifted tornado warnings for those areas.
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Another twister was also reported near Lakeland around 4 p.m. Wednesday.
The NWS later confirmed damages were caused by two tornadoes, an EF1 and stronger EF2, packing an estimated 125 mph wind speeds.
The Tampa Bay area tornado path stretched across nearly 13 miles and started in Plant City before heading into Polk County.
This is second tornado of yesterday that moved north of Lakeland. Max winds of 110mph. #flwx pic.twitter.com/pmSONuX4VX
— Jonathan Kegges (@JonathanKegges) December 17, 2020
About 14,000 customers lost power, according to Duke Energy’s online outage map. The tornado started in Pinellas Park and traveled east across the county, the Weather Service said. A waterspout was spotted near a bridge moving toward the Tampa side of the bay.
Photos from after the storm show trees and fences knocked down and roofs damaged. An upside down pickup truck was spotted. No injuries were immediately reported.
Closer look at the confirmed EF-2 tornado in Pinellas county #flwx pic.twitter.com/hMCZPVP2gb
— Jonathan Kegges (@JonathanKegges) December 17, 2020