EF-1 Tornado In St. Pete Damages Preschool, Homes: NWS

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — An EF-1 tornado touched down in St. Petersburg Thursday afternoon as strong storms moved through the Tampa Bay area, according to meteorologists with the National Weather Service’s Tampa Bay office.

The EF-1 tornado that touched down near Ninth Avenue North and 54th and 55th streets had maximum winds of 100 mph, Austen Flannery with the NWS said during a news conference. It traveled about a quarter of a mile and was 300 feet wide at its maximum point.

A tornado's damage intensity is often rated on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, according to the NWS. Their rating is based on estimated wind speeds and related damage, with the lowest being an EF-0 with three-second gusts of 65 to 85 mph and the strongest being an EF-5 with gusts more than 200 mph.

The tornado damaged homes throughout the area and uprooted a large tree that destroyed the roof of a preschool, All Children’s Academy, 5441 9th Ave. N.

Much of West and Central Florida was under a tornado watch as the line of strong thunderstorms moved across the state Thursday morning and afternoon, Patch previously reported. This storm system has been producing tornadoes across the Southeast, according to the NWS.

Flannery said that the storm created the right conditions to produce a tornado in Florida.

“This is kind of a favorable timeframe, really, from November through March. It tends to be the most active time of year for tornadoes,” he said. “From these sorts of setups, we get these strong cold fronts that come through, and when that happens, sometimes they can provide favorite conditions for tornadoes."

Staff at All Children’s Academy said the tornado hit at the perfect time to get everyone to safety — right after lunch and before nap time.

“If they had been napping, it would have been a lot harder to move them all,” Susan Sanders, director, told Patch. “It literally happened during a transition time. We were done with lunch and getting the kids ready for their nap. … It was in God’s hands.”

The daycare’s co-owner, Suzanne Myrthil, added, “It was divine intervention.”

Sanders said the teachers acted quickly when they realized a tornado was touching down, safely moving more than 30 children, ranging from 1 to 5 years old, from the classroom to a bathroom “within seconds” and then into a parish hall.

“We figured out the timing of it was between 30 and 45 seconds,” she said. “It was here, it knocked over the tree, and then it was gone. It happened very quickly but did so much damage.”

While church funds will pay for the structural damage to the building, the daycare will likely need to raise money to pay for flooding and other interior damage caused by the tree, Myrthil said.

In the meantime, the school will use alternate spaces so it can remain open.

Homeowners in the area said that while the tornado touched down briefly, it did a lot of damage.

Strong winds blew in the garage door at the home of Mike Weston, who lives near 54th Street N. and 10th Avenue N. The tornado also uprooted a tree in his front yard.

“It was very powerful,” he told Patch. “It was a big noise … It sounded like a strong burst. It just sort of popped here and then it went back up or something, but it left a lot of damage behind.”

Michael Smart, who lives nearby, said that the tornado lifted his neighbor’s shed, smashing it into his fence, and also tossed his dog’s backyard kennel up against his home's back door.

“It was quiet and then just all of a sudden, it just started rattling and the next thing you know, it lasted about 25 seconds, and it was gone,” he said. “For 25 seconds, it sure did a lot of damage.”