At least five people were killed Wednesday in at least two confirmed tornadoes in St. Lucie County, Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis confirmed Thursday.
The twisters reportedly touched down at approximately 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, hours before Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida.
Sheriff Keith Pearson confirmed multiple people were killed at the Spanish Lakes Country Club, a senior community.
Erick Gill, a spokesperson for the county, said Spanish Lakes Country Club is one of seven locations that "suffered significant damage." The others are Portofino Shores, Holiday Pines, Lakewood Park, South Florida Logistics Center 95, Sunnier Palms Park and Campground, and the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office garage.
Video posted on St. Lucie County's official Facebook page Thursday morning showed what appeared to be a tornado ripping through a parking Wednesday afternoon.
The sheriff said there were "well over 100 homes" throughout the county that have been lost due to the severe weather outbreak.
St. Lucie County has partnered with St. Lucie County Public Schools and the Florida Department of Health St. Lucie County to open an additional emergency shelter at Fort Pierce Central High School for residents displaced by the tornadoes.
Gill said their goal was to get into the communities where multiple tornadoes have touched down to help survivors and do damage assessment.
At least five of the seven reported tornadoes across Broward and Palm Beach counties, along with the Treasure Coast, have been confirmed through photographic or video evidence, the National Weather Service said.
Several confirmed tornadoes developed yesterday associated with Milton. Here's a very preliminary overview of the tracks of these tornadoes. pic.twitter.com/TBwo4x3R0k
— NWS Miami (@NWSMiami) October 10, 2024
NWS offices in Miami, Melbourne, and Tampa issued 98 tornado warnings on Wednesday afternoon, with the office in Miami issuing a record 55 of those warnings.
The NWS said it will conduct storm surveys over the coming days to determine how powerful these tornadoes were. As of Thursday morning, the NWS said "no preliminary EF-Scale ratings have been assigned" to these twisters.
Kevin Guthrie, the director of Florida's Division of Emergency Management, said they have multiple task forces headed to the affected areas. Guthrie said about 125 homes were destroyed statewide, mostly mobile homes in senior communities.
Milton made landfall in Florida near Siesta Key just after 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, but its wrath was felt across the Sunshine State for much of the day.
This story was originally published by Scott Sutton and Matt Papaycik at Scripps News West Palm Beach.
