Violent Weather Rips Through Northwest, West Florida

Roads and neighborhoods were flooded in northwest Florida near Pensacola as a violent storm crossed the north tier of the state continued down the Gulf coast north of Tampa. Starting early on Thursday morning and lasting until late that night, violent thunderstorms, hail and scattered tornadoes ravaged a 400 mile path. As much as seven-inches of rain fell in the Panhandle and four-inches fell as far south as Tampa, accompanied by outages of power and telephone services.

Much of the damage was caused by falling and uprooted trees, many of which had been weakened by last year’s hurricane and tropical storm winds and were ready to fall with the latest onslaught – wind gusts approaching hurricane strength were recorded.

The telephones at Insurance Journal’s Southeast office in Crystal River, Fla. were out of service for 12 hours and the electricity was out for about four hours.

Severe storms rumbled down the west coast from Pensacola leaving a path of destruction along their way and hit Crystal River at 4:45 p.m. just as commuters were leaving offices for the drive home.

As the stormy weather blew through it lasted for two or three hours. Due to large, inch-in-diameter hailstones, motorists who feared their car windshields would break hurried into nearby covered parking lots and bank drive-through areas.

In Florida’s Panhandle the storm began late at night and the last deluge ended by daybreak. Pensacola Regional Airport reported more than 14-inches of rain had fallen in a 30 hour period.

A 100-foot section of Pensacola’s landmark red clay bluffs was washed away. Part of Scenic Highway, overlooking Escambia Bay atop the bluffs, will be closed for several weeks while repairs are made, police said.

Two shelters were opened Wednesday night in suburban Gulf Breeze, Fla. Emergency officials still were assessing last week’s damage when the new thunderstorms hit.

The rains also kept the Apalachicola and Chipola rivers above flood stage in Gulf County nearly 150 miles east of Pensacola. About 65 primary homes and hundreds of secondary homes have been flooded since last week and the water was expected to stay high for several more days, said Gulf County Emergency Management Director Larry Wells.

Meanwhile, wind gusts up to 70 mph caused damage as the storm moved east. A roof was torn off a house in Palm Coast, while a garage was demolished in Ocala.

During April and May severe weather fronts with strong thunderstorms and tornadoes are quite common in the southeast states, including Alabama, Georgia and Florida.

Topics Florida