Sunday, 17 January 2016

Tornadoes Slam Florida Leaving At Least Two Dead and Several Injured

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At least four tornadoes tore through a southwest Florida county on Sunday, leaving at least two dead and several injured, according to reports.

One twister touched down in the town of Duette, southeast of Tampa, early Sunday morning and gutted a mobile home. Two adults were killed and four juveniles were rushed to the hospital, according to NBC News.

The mobile home was lifted off the concrete blocks on which it sat and was smashed back to Earth some 100 yards away, one witness told the Bradenton Herald. The adult victims were reportedly the grandparents of the child victims.

The tornado was one of three reported Sunday in the Gulf Coast counties of Sarasota and Manatee and the inland Polk County. The storm in Duette was rated an F2, meaning winds reached 125 as the tornado's path stretched on for at least seven miles.

Flooding was reported and the storms downed power lines, knocking out power to some 17,000 homes in hardest hit Sarasota County, according to Florida Power and Light.

Multiple homes on the county's Siesta Key reportedly had their roofs torn off. Sarasota County said just before 8 a.m. that damage-assessment teams had been deployed and locals were urged to stay indoors.

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