By CONNOR HOLMES
published in the Cape Coral Daily Breeze 8/18/09
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist made an unexpected visit Monday to victims of an unexpected tornado, which passed through a north Cape Coral neighborhood Sunday evening.
The tornado caused various damages to 23 homes in the northwest Cape, some of those along Northwest Third Avenue, where a car had been flipped upright against the side of a home when the storm passed through at about 4:42 p.m.
Crist, along with Cape Coral Mayor Jim Burch, City Manager Terry Stewart, Councilmember Tim Day and Fire Chief Bill Van Helden, among others, visited several of the homes on Northwest Third Avenue Monday afternoon.
"This thing came out of nowhere," Crist said of tropical storm Claudette, which is said to have influenced the tornadic nature of Sunday evening's storm.
"We are definitely in the season. We need to be prepared, we need to be careful, and we need to be ready because there's a couple more storms in the Atlantic. As we learned this past weekend, in a 24-hour period all of a sudden we have a tropical storm in our backyard," he said. "I feel sorry for the people that have to deal with this kind of damage. It's incredible, thank God, that there was no loss of life."
The city of Cape Coral estimates damages to 11 of the most badly damaged homes at approximately $103,000.
Crist walked across the driveways of homes with freshly laid tarps patching their roofs, boarded up windows that had shattered and bent trees
"I kept telling my dad I saw a tornado," Michael Reis, 12, told Crist as they spoke in Reis' front yard.
"I was kind of surprised," Michael's father, Carlos Reis, said of Crist knocking on his door. "I think it's a good thing, but obviously that was kind of a surprise for everybody, a tornado in Florida."
"I think it's good that he's checking things out," said resident Robert Binder of Crist's visit.
Binder's home received roof, well and window damage from the storm. Binder said he would fix the well system himself, and would assess other damages in the days to come.
Burch said he was also thankful for Crist's visit.
"It's always good to have the state level leaders come down and be involved in our affairs," he said. "We certainly have to thank him."
The city does not anticipate state aid regarding damage from the weather event, Burch said.
"If the governor thinks there's something he can do, certainly we'll be all ears," he said.
Another tornado in recent memory passed through south Cape Coral June 13, 2008, damaging several homes along Pelican Boulevard and Gleason Parkway. There were no reported injuries or deaths as a result of that storm.
According to a report by Associated Press writer Melissa Nelson, tropical storm Claudette made landfall near Fort Walton Beach Monday morning with maximum sustained winds at about 50 miles per hour.
The storm, Nelson reported, was expected to bring in 3 to 6 inches of rain with "isolated areas getting up to 10 inches along the Panhandle, the Big Bend region, central and southern Alabama and southwestern Georgia ... "
The storm is expected to weaken as it travels into southern Alabama, the report states.
"We have to prepare for the worst and hope for the best," Crist said Monday of the remainder of hurricane season.
Showing posts with label tornado. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tornado. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
Tornado damages 23 homes; Car overturned; lightning fires reported after storm passes through
By CONNOR HOLMES
published in the Cape Coral Daily Breeze 8/14/09
1.) View of a funnel cloud from Northeast 1st Street. Picture courtesy of John and Janice Holmes.
2.)Robert Binder and his friend Robert Smith repair Binder’s roof after a tornado hit their neighborhood Sunday afternoon. Picture copyright the Cape Coral Daily Breeze.
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Cape Coral residents expect nasty weather during the summer months. They expect rain, lightning and thunder. Hurricanes are a staple here.
However, the Hill and Binder families, who live along Northwest 3rd Avenue, were not expecting a tornado to meander down their street and narrowly spare their lives - though that is what they got.
Jessica Hill's Honda Civic had smashed against the side of her home at 1813 N.W. 3rd Avenue. Diana Binder's roof was damaged, windows blown out, random objects scattered in her yard and sucked from her home to other yards.
These are the images of the aftermath of a tornado that passed through north Cape Coral Sunday at about 4:42 p.m.
"It hit the back of the car and flipped it onto its front end, onto the house," said Hill's husband, Steven, relaying the story his wife had told him. Steven was not home when the tornado hit, but noted the car had somehow flipped over a truck parked beside it, which remained undamaged.
Steven and Jessica live with their two children, 3 years and 3 months old.
The Hills also had some roof and landscape damage, though Steven said he was grateful no one was harmed.
"Everything can be fixed, everyone's OK," he said. "We're definitely good with that."
A few houses down from the Hills, Robert Binder and friend Robert Smith placed a tarp over their roof where the storm had caused damage. Plywood had quickly been placed over shattered windows after the weather cleared.
"I heard the noises," said Diana Binder, Robert's wife. "The famous freight train noise. I told my kids to get in the safe room that we have, and our front window blew in. It actually sucked a toy off the windowsill."
Diana said her husband and Smith attempted to close the garage door as the storm sucked items from inside the garage area, and even witnessed the Hills' car become airborne, but the power went out before they were able to pull the door down.
Diana, Robert and their four children also had damage to their well and gutters, and among the items in their back yard was a camper top, but they are also thankful for their lives.
"Everything's fine," Diana said. "We'll get it fixed."
Amazingly, the Binders rode out Hurricane Charley in their home with no damage.
The tornado ravaged their neighborhood only three days after the 5-year anniversary of the category-4 storm.
"This is the only time we've actually had damage to our home," Diana said.
According to city spokesperson Connie Barron, the tornado touched down near Northwest 18th Terrace and Northwest 3rd Avenue, damaging 23 homes and overturning a vehicle. Additionally, at least three structure fires were reported as a result of lightning strikes, all within a 30-minute period during the storm. The fire damage to the homes was minor to moderate.
Barron said the city was initially unable to receive mutual aid from other departments because of the severe weather issues in various nearby areas.
The tornadic activity was a result of a moist tropical southeasterly flow from the wake of tropical storm Claudette, currently located near the panhandle, mixing with daytime heating, according to Accuweather.com Senior Meteorologist Bob Smerbeck.
"When you get near a tropical storm, it puts a little bit of extra spin in the atmosphere," Smerbeck said.
The rotating clouds increase the possibility of forming tornadoes, he said.
A tornado warning was lifted at 5:15 p.m. for parts of northwestern Lee and southwestern Charlotte counties.
As Cape Coral takes a reprieve from tornadoes, tropical depression Ana and tropical storm Bill are churning their way through the Atlantic.
However, it seems unlikely either storm will make landfall in the sunshine state, Smerbeck said.
Ana, which has been strengthening and weakening and most recently was downgraded to a tropical depression, could have been a survivor," Smerbeck said. "There's still some chance it will come back to life."
However, "We're pretty confident it's going to pass south of Florida," he said.
As for Bill, "Bill's going to be a big hurricane," Smerbeck said. "It has all the signs of a strong developing cyclone."
At this point forecasters believe Bill will travel west by northwest and will strike somewhere along the Carolina coast mid to late next weekend, though the travel paths of hurricanes are often difficult to predict with exactitude, Smerbeck said.
"Once these hurricanes get established, sometimes they can alter the environment ahead of them," he said.
published in the Cape Coral Daily Breeze 8/14/09
1.) View of a funnel cloud from Northeast 1st Street. Picture courtesy of John and Janice Holmes.
2.)Robert Binder and his friend Robert Smith repair Binder’s roof after a tornado hit their neighborhood Sunday afternoon. Picture copyright the Cape Coral Daily Breeze.
-------
Cape Coral residents expect nasty weather during the summer months. They expect rain, lightning and thunder. Hurricanes are a staple here.
However, the Hill and Binder families, who live along Northwest 3rd Avenue, were not expecting a tornado to meander down their street and narrowly spare their lives - though that is what they got.
Jessica Hill's Honda Civic had smashed against the side of her home at 1813 N.W. 3rd Avenue. Diana Binder's roof was damaged, windows blown out, random objects scattered in her yard and sucked from her home to other yards.
These are the images of the aftermath of a tornado that passed through north Cape Coral Sunday at about 4:42 p.m.
"It hit the back of the car and flipped it onto its front end, onto the house," said Hill's husband, Steven, relaying the story his wife had told him. Steven was not home when the tornado hit, but noted the car had somehow flipped over a truck parked beside it, which remained undamaged.
Steven and Jessica live with their two children, 3 years and 3 months old.
The Hills also had some roof and landscape damage, though Steven said he was grateful no one was harmed.
"Everything can be fixed, everyone's OK," he said. "We're definitely good with that."
A few houses down from the Hills, Robert Binder and friend Robert Smith placed a tarp over their roof where the storm had caused damage. Plywood had quickly been placed over shattered windows after the weather cleared.
"I heard the noises," said Diana Binder, Robert's wife. "The famous freight train noise. I told my kids to get in the safe room that we have, and our front window blew in. It actually sucked a toy off the windowsill."
Diana said her husband and Smith attempted to close the garage door as the storm sucked items from inside the garage area, and even witnessed the Hills' car become airborne, but the power went out before they were able to pull the door down.
Diana, Robert and their four children also had damage to their well and gutters, and among the items in their back yard was a camper top, but they are also thankful for their lives.
"Everything's fine," Diana said. "We'll get it fixed."
Amazingly, the Binders rode out Hurricane Charley in their home with no damage.
The tornado ravaged their neighborhood only three days after the 5-year anniversary of the category-4 storm.
"This is the only time we've actually had damage to our home," Diana said.
According to city spokesperson Connie Barron, the tornado touched down near Northwest 18th Terrace and Northwest 3rd Avenue, damaging 23 homes and overturning a vehicle. Additionally, at least three structure fires were reported as a result of lightning strikes, all within a 30-minute period during the storm. The fire damage to the homes was minor to moderate.
Barron said the city was initially unable to receive mutual aid from other departments because of the severe weather issues in various nearby areas.
The tornadic activity was a result of a moist tropical southeasterly flow from the wake of tropical storm Claudette, currently located near the panhandle, mixing with daytime heating, according to Accuweather.com Senior Meteorologist Bob Smerbeck.
"When you get near a tropical storm, it puts a little bit of extra spin in the atmosphere," Smerbeck said.
The rotating clouds increase the possibility of forming tornadoes, he said.
A tornado warning was lifted at 5:15 p.m. for parts of northwestern Lee and southwestern Charlotte counties.
As Cape Coral takes a reprieve from tornadoes, tropical depression Ana and tropical storm Bill are churning their way through the Atlantic.
However, it seems unlikely either storm will make landfall in the sunshine state, Smerbeck said.
Ana, which has been strengthening and weakening and most recently was downgraded to a tropical depression, could have been a survivor," Smerbeck said. "There's still some chance it will come back to life."
However, "We're pretty confident it's going to pass south of Florida," he said.
As for Bill, "Bill's going to be a big hurricane," Smerbeck said. "It has all the signs of a strong developing cyclone."
At this point forecasters believe Bill will travel west by northwest and will strike somewhere along the Carolina coast mid to late next weekend, though the travel paths of hurricanes are often difficult to predict with exactitude, Smerbeck said.
"Once these hurricanes get established, sometimes they can alter the environment ahead of them," he said.
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