At least nine tornadoes hit Florida as Hurricane Milton approached on Wednesday evening, with one caught on camera crossing I-75 and another recorded as it hit the small island of Matlacha. The funnel cloud over I-75 was clear to see in a photo shared by the National Weather Service, and the resulting tornado touched down in Broward, Florida according to a report by The Associated Press. The tornadoes were responsible for at least some of the deaths accounted for on Wednesday night, and much of the damage as well.
Hurricane Milton dropped about 16 inches of rain on Florida’s Gulf Coast on Wednesday night and brought winds of at least 100 miles per hour. Storm surges topped out at about 10 feet, and many areas are still flooded. Still, the tornadoes that formed ahead of the storm may have been the most destructive part. Four people were killed on Wednesday night, and the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office told AP that at least some deaths in their area were caused by tornadoes.
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The tornadoes destroyed about 125 homes before the hurricane even reached the shoreline, including many mobile homes. Just outside of Fort Myers, a tornado raged over the tiny island of Matlacha, where a narrow bridge connects it to the mainland. Many of the buildings there were severely damaged, and even knocked off of their pilings.
A local homeowner told AP that the tornado “picked up a car and threw it across the road,” while his own shed was completely bowled over at some point. Nearby, an entire house was moved so that it blocked the street. However, the man said he intends to fix up his house and stay there, saying: “What else am I going to do?”
Meteorologist Victor Gensini told AP that it’s not uncommon for tornadoes to form alongside hurricanes, but that the intensity of these twisters was “definitely out of the ordinary.” He said: “Hurricanes do produce tornadoes, but they’re usually weak. What we saw today was much closer to what we see in the Great Plains in the spring.”
Scientists say the conditions of a hurricane make the formation of a tornado more likely, including intense heat and humidity in the atmosphere as well as changes in wind speed and direction at a great height. Gensini explained: “There’s an incredible amount of swirling going on. Those tornadoes were just in a very favorable environment.”
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