F2 Tornado Christmas Day

F2 Tornado comes thru DeLand and Daytona

Current mood:shocked

F2 tornado came thru about 2pm. We dodged a major bullet. About a mile and a half from here, about 200 homes took damage. Major devastation. The place is evacuated as gas lines were ruptured. The images are just getting to the media. The WalMart is being used as a staging area for that area, but the tornado continued east, and did a lot of damage to the residential area by the police station, wiping out an apartment complex and playing havoc with a huge area of the city. The counts are still coming in.

Many people are going to come home on Christmas to no home. We rode thru some of the damaged area on the way home from dinner, and it is amazing. I called my house to be sure the electricity was on, as we had no idea what to expect. Fortunately we have no apparant damage that I can see, and our electricity is on, so that is good!

I had dinner at my brother in laws house, with the whole family there. He owns a business downtown and we feared it was levelled. A friend went down and checked it out, and it appears to have sustained no damage, but everything after 100 feet away is majorly damaged. He has no electricity there, but that is a small issue compared with having damage to the building.

Making for an interesting day. Keep a good thought for those more affected. Tomorrow will probably reveal some big hardships.