Tornado in Lake County, FL

[ducklite]

The devastation is terrible in the affected area. CNN and Fox have ongoing coverage.

There's a Disser that lives in Vero Beach. Hope she checks in.

CNN reporting 14 fatalities so far.

My DD lives in Pensacola/Perdido Key.


herc.

I think Vero is too far south to be affected.

Anne

 

[ducklite]

Just an offer to any DIS'ers or their neighbors, I've got several blue tarps, plus the nails and wood strips to hold them on, as well as a chain saw if anyone needs to borrow any of it. Just let me know, I can deliver tomorrow morning, or arrange for someone to pick up from my home in Clermont today.

Anne

 

[lesroi]

I think Vero is too far south to be affected.

Anne

Actually there are warnings right now and was a tornado headed thorough Indian River Co.


Good luck to all affected!


Tracy


P.S... To second Anne's offer of help... We don't have any tarps, but can offer a place to stay if anyone needs it. Pets welcome. We have 2 extra guest rooms if anyone needs shelter. We are also in south Lake (Clermont), just south of Anne.

 

[floridafam]

We're under a Tornado Warning right now. We are in Sebastian, just South of the Brevard county line.

Hercamore,

I just saw your post. Am I the DISer you are talking about? We used to live in Vero but bought a house in Sebastian.

I hate days like this when the kids are in school. I hope they aren't frightened.

 

[ducklite]

Actually there are warnings right now and was a tornado headed thorough Indian River Co.


Good luck to all affected!


Tracy

Oy! I hope everyone is OK. We have friend sin Vero that we helped out after Jeanne tore up their home, I'll have to try to reach them.

Anne

 

[jwfla422]

The devastation they are showing on the news reports is terrible. They are saying that the tonado's that hit were F-3, which is equivelant to a CAT-5 hurricane--think Andrew over Homestead.

The EBS is still broadcasting over the radio for warnings over Volusia county.

Anne

I agree, the photos remind me so much of Andrew's devistation. But, I must say this incident so much reminds me of the tornado outbreak that hit Kissimmee around the Boggy Creek Rd area almost 10 years ago, I believe in spring of '98 and they found a little boy in a tree...he was ok! They also hit during the night.

Some wild weather can hit in FL during the "cold front" months and obviously can be as bad if not worse than a hurricane...just not much warning...not like we can go to a storm shelter under ground!

So sad for those affected. Here's hoping this line of storms starts to disappate as they approach the other areas now under watches and warnings.

 

[floridafam]

I think the tornado warning for us just expired.

DH said that there was a Tornado in Grant which isn't too far North of us.

Thank goodness.

It looks like a lot of people around Orlando weren't so lucky. Very sad.

 

[Big V]

My SIL just e-mailed me and they didn't get a hold of her Aunt yet, but one of their son's friends parents live in the Villages and he said that his parents are OK, but their home is across the hiway.

 

[floridafam]

My Dad even called and said to take shelter and he's in Michigan. He lived through an F-5 in Standale (by Grand Rapids) about 50 years ago and said it was just unbelievable.

 

[KristinBelle]

The Lake Mack area of Lake County is destroyed, complete devestation, 7 confirmed deaths.

 

[ducklite]

I agree, the photos remind me so much of Andrew's devistation. But, I must say this incident so much reminds me of the tornado outbreak that hit Kissimmee around the Boggy Creek Rd area almost 10 years ago, I believe in spring of '98 and they found a little boy in a tree...he was ok! They also hit during the night.

They were talking about that on the radio about an hour ago.

Some wild weather can hit in FL during the "cold front" months and obviously can be as bad if not worse than a hurricane...just not much warning...not like we can go to a storm shelter under ground!

So sad for those affected. Here's hoping this line of storms starts to disappate as they approach the other areas now under watches and warnings.

Somebody had called in saying that they should have warning sirens, but the DJ countered by saying instead people should just have weather radios. I'll tell you the biggest problem with weather radios in this area. The Melbourne NOAH office maintains the EBS for weather for this region, which runs from Daytona to south of Melbourne (Barefoot Bay area I think) to just south of Ocala to the Lakeland area. It's a HUGE area, and frankly 99% of the time the alert I get is for someplace 90 miles away.

Last night it was going off all night and after the first few which were Brevard, Volusia, Seminole, Eastern Osceola, I stopped listening and just turned it off each time it alerted. (About 4:00 am after the 9th alert for teh night I turned it off--obviously I was not thinking straight!) I thought the sotrms were all headed eastwardly (they were) and nothing would be coming over me--they were all past. I was obviously quite wrong. I wish that they could break up the hundreds of miles of area that the Melbourne NOAH station covers to be a bit more specific with the alerts so that weather radios don't have to alert for storms that are 90 miles away. It would make people be much more likely to really pay attention to storm warnings in their immediate area. Just wishful thinking I guess.

Anne

 

[floridafam]

We don't have Tornado sirens here. I wonder why?? I think we should have them because we don't always have the tv or radio on and may be sleeping when a tornado is in the area.

 

[floridafam]

OMG!!! I just saw the pictures of the damage on CNN. Those people in those houses never stood a chance.

 

[ducklite]

We don't have Tornado sirens here. I wonder why?? I think we should have them because we don't always have the tv or radio on and may be sleeping when a tornado is in the area.

Please spend the $30 for a weather radio--I PROMISE it will wake you up when it alerts! Mine is in my bedroom, and I can hear it in the family room with the TV on.

Anne

 

[Mom2Em]

I had no idea that cities in FL did not have sirens... When we were hit last year by 2 tornados, it was the sirens that saved us... Granted one was early evening but the other was late in the evening... Thanks to the sirens, we had no casualties and very little injuries...

 

[hercamore]

floridafam,

Glad to hear you're ok.

herc.

 

[jwfla422]

They were talking about that on the radio about an hour ago.

Somebody had called in saying that they should have warning sirens, but the DJ countered by saying instead people should just have weather radios. I'll tell you the biggest problem with weather radios in this area. The Melbourne NOAH office maintains the EBS for weather for this region, which runs from Daytona to south of Melbourne (Barefoot Bay area I think) to just south of Ocala to the Lakeland area. It's a HUGE area, and frankly 99% of the time the alert I get is for someplace 90 miles away.

Last night it was going off all night and after the first few which were Brevard, Volusia, Seminole, Eastern Osceola, I stopped listening and just turned it off each time it alerted. (About 4:00 am after the 9th alert for teh night I turned it off--obviously I was not thinking straight!) I thought the sotrms were all headed eastwardly (they were) and nothing would be coming over me--they were all past. I was obviously quite wrong. I wish that they could break up the hundreds of miles of area that the Melbourne NOAH station covers to be a bit more specific with the alerts so that weather radios don't have to alert for storms that are 90 miles away. It would make people be much more likely to really pay attention to storm warnings in their immediate area. Just wishful thinking I guess.

Anne

Yes, it is true that the weather radios cover a large area as we got one after the '98 outbreak in the Kissimmee area and that radio can scare the day lights out of you if it's on the "alert" mode and like you said, it can go off all night with warnings for areas far away.

Too bad there's not a way to put a siren system up near a town's city hall area or police station and sub-stations, so that residents in that area could be alerted (almost like the lightening detectors systems they have in the public parks now), but still if these storms occur during the night many people may not hear them (but then maybe some may). It might just give people enough time to get in their closets or overturn the mattress over them ...frankly as soon as it rains heavily at night, I'm up, but who knows how quickly these tornados touched down.

 

[lennon2004]

Wow this is sad

 

[Kristi1357]

I talked to my Mom very briefly. She finally spoke to my grandfather. So I know they are ok, THANK GOD! I don't know any other details yet.

I am going to get them a weather radio! I sincerely doubt they have one.

 

[FSUGrad97]

My parents live in Ocala didn't have any damage other than some water leaked through the sliding glass doors. However, he did say that there is some damage in their area.