BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – The National Weather Service was on the ground in South Patrick Shores Thursday to verify that a tornado touched down in the South Patrick Park neighborhood.
The EF-1 tornado — packing peak wind speeds of 90-100 mph — touched down near the intersection of Lighthouse Landing St. and South Patrick Drive around 5:20 p.m. Wednesday and exited out over the Atlantic near A1A and Ocean Boulevard. NWS meteorologists said the tornado was on the ground for a mile and was 300 yards wide.
The NWS had issued a tornado warning for the South Patrick Shores area just after 5 p.m.
According to Brevard County Emergency Management, around 40-50 homes were impacted by the tornado. Two roofs sustained major damage while 12 had minor damage, as many as 12 power poles were damaged and around 126 FPL customers were left without power.
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“That’s another signal that this thing packed a big punch in just a short amount of time,” said county communications director Don Walker.
Video from the area shows fences and sheds torn apart, twisted trees, snapped branches, impacted autobodies and belongings strewn all over. No injuries were reported.
The county provided the following list of the most heavily-impacted streets, as well as a map outlining the area with the most damage.
Most heavily-impacted streets:
- SE 3nd Street
- SE 4th Street
- Ocean Blvd
- NE 1st Street
- Pelican Drive
- Egret Drive
- Herron Drive
On SE 4th Street, Jon Manzi said the walls of his living room collapsed.
Manzi was remodeling his home so he said he wasn’t here, but had he been, he feared he might not be alive.
“I can’t imagine what would have happened if we were still living here so we are blessed in that respect,” the homeowner said. “I’m thankful myself, my wife, my daughter and my pets are safe today.”
Brevard County Fire Rescue, the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office, the city of Satellite Beach and FPL received thanks from BCEM in their response efforts, credited as instrumental in sizing up the situation, determining there were no injuries, checking on residents and securing the area, according to a news release.
Neighbors told News 6 that there was nowhere near enough time to prepare for the tornado, as opposed to something like a hurricane. As one man said, it arrived in a matter of seconds. A woman we spoke with said that it was gone just as quickly.
A scrapper collecting metal said the tornado was worse on the neighborhood than recent hurricanes.
“The hurricane didn’t do as much damage as this tornado did,” Martin Carrizales said.
BCEM has since requested that residents of impacted communities send in photos and descriptions of property damage left behind by the tornado using an online damage assessment form. The county stressed the form was not an application for assistance and served only as information used to help along emergency management decisions.
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