Tornado Hits Florida TV Station During Live Weather Broadcast
A tornado hit a TV station Monday near Orlando, Florida, during a live weather broadcast.
WOFL-TV meteorologist Brooks Garner was warning people in the path of the storm to take shelter when he realized the tornado was coming right toward the TV studio. While still on air, Garner told everyone in the building to take cover.
"Get to your safe space under your desk. We're catching debris right now on the roof," he said.
"This is a tornado."
The storm caused at least one home to collapse and damaged several others, but there were no reports of injuries or deaths. A preliminary survey from the National Weather Service found damage indicating an EF1 tornado along most of the path, and a small area rated EF2 with peak winds estimated up to 115 mph.
Garner stayed on the air as power flickered and the twister passed over.
"This is a very serious situation," he told viewers. "This is a real live tornado."
Garner continued on air telling viewers where the tornado was headed next.
About 90 seconds later, once it was all over, he stopped to catch his breath.
"I've been doing this for a very long time. That's the first time a tornado has hit me while I'm doing the weather," Garner said.
WOFL is a Fox network station with studios in Lake Mary, Florida, about 16 miles northeast of Orlando. That station is known locally as Fox 35.
The weather was part of a broader system hitting parts of the South.
"A low-pressure system tracking across the Southeast today has been mainly a rainmaker," weather.com senior meteorologist Chris Dolce said Monday morning. "But enough unstable air ahead of it has created an environment that can produce isolated severe storms in central Florida, including damaging wind gusts and the chance of a brief tornado."
Garner said the tornado that passed over the studio appeared to be weak, and there were no reports of widespread major damage. The Seminole County Fire Department said people were inside a home that collapsed during the storm but they were unharmed. The department shared photos that also showed down trees and debris on a neighborhood street.
The National Weather Service in Melbourne, Florida, said the tornado also impacted the nearby community of Longwood. The NWS plans to conduct a storm survey today to determine the track, length and intensity of the twister.
Florida sees about 46 tornadoes a year on average, according to data from 2003 to 2022. The state with the most average annual tornadoes during that time was Texas, with 124.
Hurricane Milton last year spawned a record number of tornadoes in Florida, with 46 spinning up over two days. One of them killed six people in St. Lucie County on the state's East Coast.
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