At least nine tornadoes plowed through St. Lucie County, Florida, on Wednesday, including three in less than 25 minutes, according to a CNN analysis of National Weather Service warnings.
At least 4 people have died in the county because of the twisters and hundreds of homes were “completely totaled,” according to county officials.
The first tornado occurred just before 12:30 p.m. local time. Over the course of the next five-plus hours there would be at least 20 tornado warnings issued in the county. Most tornado warnings warn of the potential of a tornado, not that one is actually on the ground, but at least nine of the 20 had observed tornadoes, meaning there was visual proof of the tornado in progress.
The most frenetic span happened from 4:44 p.m. ET to 5:10 p.m. ET. when there were three tornadoes in the span of about 25 minutes. It’s unclear if the three tornadoes were moving through the county simultaneously.
It didn’t stop then. At least one tornado warning was tagged as a “particularly dangerous situation” by the weather service around 5:30 p.m. ET and warned a “large and extremely dangerous tornado” was on the ground near the St. Lucie Airport.
The number of confirmed tornadoes and their strength will not be finalized until storm damage survey teams from the weather service deploy to the impacted areas.
Milton swells rivers to historic or near historic levels and flooding could last for days
Milton’s prolific rain is causing major flooding on rivers that are also swelling to, or threatening to hit, historic highs in places.
Nearly a dozen river gauges across the state are in major flood stage, but two are most notable:
- The Hillsborough River in Zephyrhills has surged to 15.46 feet, beating the old record of 15.33 feet set in 1960. And it’s not stopping there—it’s projected to keep climbing to a peak of 16.3 feet by early Friday morning. “Numerous” streets in Crystal Springs will flood at these levels, the Water Prediction Center (WPC) warns.
- Cypress Creek near Worthington Gardens is forecast to hit 15 feet by Saturday, eclipsing the previous record of 13.78 feet from 2004. The creek will threaten to flood some homes on State Road 54 at these levels, the WPC said.
Two other locations will be very close to record levels.
- The St. John’s River at Astor is forecast to peak at 4.6 feet, its second-highest crest on record, just shy of the historic crest of 4.7 feet in 2022. At these levels water rescues and evacuations become necessary. “Most low-lying homes become uninhabitable due to 2 to 3 feet water depth in many areas of the community on or near the river,” the WPC notes.
- Deep Creek at Spuds is at 5.74 feet, just below the 2017 record of 5.75 feet. It could surpass this level by the weekend. The WPC notes that even at current river levels impacts include “extensive inundation of structures and roads in the area is expected.”
All of these gauges are expected to remain at moderate flood stage or higher through this weekend, with some not cresting until at least Sunday.
