- A tornado touched down in Fort Lauderdale around 6 p.m. Saturday, and tornado warnings were issued throughout Broward County
- The tornado touched down in Fort Lauderdale, west of the intersection of Las Olas Boulevard and the Intracoastal Waterway
- The tornado “made contact with some structures, power lines and ships,” the fire department said in a statement
On Saturday, a tornado touched down in Fort Lauderdale, prompting tornado warnings to be issued throughout Broward County.
Videos from the southern Florida city show the large tornado moving near downtown.
The tornado originated overland just before 6 p.m. and touched down Saturday evening in Fort Lauderdale west of the intersection of Las Olas Boulevard and the Intracoastal Waterway, according to Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue.
By 6:30 p.m., the storm had dissipated, Fort Lauderdale Commissioner Steve Glassman said.
Firefighters responded to calls about a damaged boat on Las Olas Circle and a home with a damaged roof on Southeast 10th Street, said Garrett Pingol, chief of the Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Battalion.
Videos from the southern Florida city show the large tornado moving near downtown
The tornado “made contact with some structures, power lines and ships,” the fire department said in a statement
The tornado “made contact with some structures, power lines and ships in this immediate area” before moving east until it hit the ocean, Pingol explained.
Fire Rescue conducted an “extensive area survey” from Bahia Mar to Sunrise Boulevard and determined that no one was injured or displaced and there was no significant property damage as of 7:30 p.m., although some boats had minor damage.
“An apparent tornado touched down near Las Olas and the Intracoastal this evening,” the city of Fort Lauderdale said in a statement.
“There have been no reports of injuries to date.” The Fort Lauderdale Fire Department is assessing the damage, which appears to be minor.
Adding: “The public should be cautious of debris and downed power lines in the area.”
Jeff Turk received the tornado warning around 5:45 a.m. while he was on his boat at Bahia Mar Marina.
“The funniest thing about it is you get a warning that says, 'Take shelter and get into a basement,' you know, and we're on a boat here and there's no basement or a boat in Florida,” said he told the Sun Sentinel.
Turk and his wife watched the tornado from their boat and saw something explode and sparks and debris fly everywhere.
No injuries were reported and the Fort Lauderdale Fire Department is assessing the damage
Tornado east of downtown Fort Lauderdale this afternoon. I watched the signature on the radar and it looked like it was close.
Boy, was it. As far as I could tell,@NWSMiamiissued the warning just in time. pic.twitter.com/k74EbBqwTg— Craig Setzer, CCM (@CraigSetzer) January 6, 2024
“Where will they seek shelter?” he asked.
Craig Setzer, a local weatherman, shared video on X of the tornado speeding past east of downtown Fort Lauderdale.
“I watched the signature on the radar and it looked like it was close,” he wrote. “Boy was it.”
There were several reports of other severe weather across Florida on Saturday, including funnel clouds, a waterspout and damaging wind gusts.
The highest reported thunderstorm wind gust was 52 mph near Pine Island, Fox Weather reported.
The storms are associated with a trailing cold front accompanied by a strong northeasterly wind moving up the East Coast this weekend.
The storm created a mess of ice, snow and rain as it moved through the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast.
Florida is expected to experience even more extreme weather in the coming days as another powerful storm moves across the eastern half of the country.
Terrible moment TORNADO hits Ft. Lauderdale, causing explosions as the funnel cloud swept through South Florida