Jan Wesner Childs
A possible tornado damaged buildings and knocked down trees in the Central Florida town of DeLand Tuesday afternoon.
Street flooding was also reported in the city, located in Volusia County about 25 miles inland from Daytona Beach. The storm also prompted reports of hail and high wind gusts at least as far south as Vero Beach.
The Volusia County Sheriff's Office noted "significant damage" in DeLand and said deputies were going door to door to check on people.
Photos posted to Twitter showed wrecked roofs and large trees snapped in half.
Scattered power outages were reported. The City of DeLand warned residents to stay away from flooded streets downtown, and said damage was mostly contained to the north part of town.
The National Weather Service in Melbourne issued a tornado warning for DeLand at around 4 p.m. Strong afternoon thunderstorms aren't unusual in Florida this time of year, but weather.com senior meteorologist Jonathan Erdman said Tuesday's weather was a little more severe than usual.
"Instead of a warm dome of high pressure overhead suppressing most thunderstorms, a flow of southwest winds aloft and small upper-level disturbances made the atmosphere more unstable," Erdman said. "That's also the reason for the hail reports."
Quarter-size hail was reported in St. Augustine, north of Daytona Beach. There were reports of smaller hail up and down the coast.
A wind gust of 70 mph was recorded at New Smyrna Beach, and 54 mph at Patrick Air Force Base near Melbourne.
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
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