- May 2, 2024
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UPDATED 9:33 p.m.
The following information is posted on flagleremergency.com:
"Crews are responding to a likely tornado that occurred in Palm Coast. The damage appears to be from the Indian Trails Section into the Palm Harbor section. Power is out in the area and may be out for an extended period of time."
Original post:
The skies were threatening, and then it was raining. The boat parade was canceled, so a group of 20 or 30 people gathered for a house party on Cimmaron Drive. That’s when it got spooky.
“The tornado warning went off on our phones at the same time,” according to Pat Block, a Cimmaron resident.
A few people debated what to do. One left to go check on her dog.
Then, Block said, “The next thing we knew, we heard the roar.”
Bob Updegrave was also at the party, and he saw the winds first-hand. It was too dark to see a funnel cloud, but he said there was a vacuum. “It was enough to take your breath away,” he said.
“The debris was just coming laterally across the backyard and the front yard, banging off the house and vehicles,” he continued. “There were a few power line flashes, but no power outages. Isn’t that amazing?”
Within 15 seconds or so, the roar ended, and the wind died down. There were no injuries on the street that he knew of.
When things settled, it was clear: The house across the street, at 102 Cimmaron, was missing a lanai. The aluminum supports had been swept into the air and were flying in the neighborhood. Pat Block emailed a photo of the damage to the Palm Coast Observer, which is published with this web post. The owners are snowbirds and are now aware of the damage, she said.
Updegrave said he has never seen something like this in Palm Coast. The irony is, he lived in the Midwest for years and was never close to one.
And, to highlight the arbitrary nature of the damage, he noted that the Christmas lights on his house appeared untouched by the winds.
The woman who went to check on her dog was Susan Blake. She said that when she arrived at her home, about a half mile away, she observed debris in the street: garbage, leaves, branches, mailboxes.
“Across the canal from me, two houses on Cedardale lost their lanais,” she said. “The glass flew out of the back window of truck. The power must be out because the whole street is black.”
Updegrave added that, at least in his party, everyone was safe. “It was scary — you can use all the adjectives one commonly associates with a storm. But people are smiling.”
