We were expecting the waters to rise on the west coast of Florida, after the arrival of Hurricane Milton on Wednesday October 9 via the Gulf of Mexico. It was a series of deadly tornadoes, which preceded the storm, on the Atlantic coast of the peninsula, to the great surprise of the inhabitants. They left five dead in Saint Lucie County (out of the eleven recorded in the state), even spreading terror a little further south, in Palm Beach Gardens, north of Miami, a half-hour drive away. from Donald Trump’s residence.
Warren Newell, 70, was at his window on Wednesday at 5:10 p.m. in his pretty home in Palm Beach Gardens when a blast began to be heard and shelter alerts sounded on smartphones. He filmed the tornado that suddenly appeared in front of him, black, spinning, roaring. Until his partner Lisa Reves ordered him to move away from the window. “It was absolutely terrifying. You feel something is happening. Nobody expected this. “We were focused on the Gulf Coast, where the hurricane was coming from.” explains Lisa Reves, still in shock. “We no longer have electricity, no drinking water, but we were lucky. Our neighbors less. » At the scene, the devastation reveals very localized destruction: the tornado sucked into the air a car lying on a completely ravaged lawn, and tore off the roofs of around twenty houses.
In the subdivision of small, modest houses in Saint Lucia, often prefabricated, Mike Davis, 81, was also lucky not to be affected by the tornado that struck his home late in the afternoon. This retired auto mechanic points us to his neighbor’s house, whose roof has blown off into a small canal, where it is recommended to watch out for alligators. Like everyone else, he was taken by surprise. “Hurricanes are under control. But tornadoes are scary, they can happen in the middle of the night, and sometimes they go undetected.”he confides to us, while mowing his soggy lawn.
Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers Hurricane Milton: “It’s really tiring having to rebuild everything”
Add to your selections
As Milton crossed Florida, some 126 emergency alerts sounded while 20 to 25 tornadoes were identified by weather service radars. Thirty-eight tornadoes were reported by eyewitnesses since Wednesday, while Florida has around fifty such events per year.
“We have more tornadoes than ever”
Mike Davis didn’t think about evacuating: the hurricane was coming through the Gulf of Mexico, it was supposed to weaken. He also believes that he could not have done it. “I couldn’t leave, the highway was completely jammed”. But the traumatic arrival of tornadoes makes him change his mind. “Next time I will evacuate. Maybe I’ll even move, maybe move back to West Virginia where I was born, explains the octogenarian, who adds. We have more tornadoes than ever. It’s climate change. »
You have 46.88% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.
Related News :