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At least 14 killed as storms rip central Florida 
Church demolished, homes destroyed, thousands left without power

Storms carrying what was believed to be the state’s deadliest tornado in a decade cut a path across four central Florida counties early Friday, killing at least 14 people, damaging hundreds of homes, leaving hundreds homeless and littering fields with clothes, furniture and splintered lumber.

Searchers moved through the four-county region, using spray paint to mark what they found in husks of buildings while residents who had startled out of bed came back to look for friends or loved ones and salvage anything that wasn’t blown apart.

At least one tornado touched down overnight, and central Florida residents were on alert for new twisters throughout the morning.

Lake County spokesman Christopher Patton confirmed the 14 deaths, 11 in Paisley and three in Lady Lake, where the mayor said nearly every home was destroyed.

Pastor Howard Roszak of the First Baptist Church in Paisley said two teenage boys who belonged to his church were killed. One of the boys died along with his father, while both parents of the other teen were killed.

“I know all these kids real good. I love these kids. I hear there is nothing left ... just absolutely nothing,” Roszak said, referring to the home of one of the boys.

The storm went through so many mobile homes that it "looks like a war zone; it's been totally devastated,” said Ed Nathanson, Lady Lake's police chief.

An official at the county's emergency operations center said more than 500 buildings were damaged or destroyed across the county. Some people were still reported to be missing.

Up to 100 homes were damaged in Sumter County, but there were no reports of deaths.

Gov. Charlie Crist declared a state of emergency for Volusia, Sumter, Lake and Seminole counties.

“Our priority today is search and rescue,” Crist told reporters in Tallahassee.

Overnight strike was worst scenario
Dozens of mobile homes near Lady Lake were destroyed. Chairs, beds and clothes were strewn about yards, with debris hanging from trees. Some homes were tossed from their foundations, while others had their roofs ripped off.

The storms moved across Sumter and Lake counties around 3:15 a.m., then moved to Volusia County, where more than 100 homes were damaged in New Smyrna Beach and 10 people were transported to hospitals with injuries. A county medical clinic in DeLand was severely damaged.

“The most dangerous tornado scenario is a threat for killer tornadoes at night, and that was the case,” said Dave Sharp, a National Weather Service meteorologist.

"I can say with high confidence that it's tornado damage. It's not straight-line wind damage," Sharp said.

Forecasters started issuing tornado warnings for central Florida around midnight, but by midday, the tornado threat had diminished significantly, Sharp said.

"We heard a big boom then we heard the freight-train noise. All five of us got in the closet," said Linda Craig, 44, who lives in Hontoon Island, a heavily damaged area of Volusia County.

Many homes were turned into rubble along Lake Mack. Vern Huber, 87, said his weather radio, a special unit triggered by government warnings, went off around 3:30 a.m. and he and his wife, Louedna, 81, huddled in the hall and put pillows from the couch on top of themselves.

"It was a deafening roar," Huber said.

Church demolished
The Lady Lake Church of God was demolished, its pews, altar and Bibles left in a jumbled mess. The 31-year-old, steel-reinforced structure was built to withstand 150-mph winds, the Rev. Larry Lynn said.

By daybreak, parishioners gathered amid the ruins, hugging each other and consoling Lynn. They planned to clear the debris and hold Sunday services on the empty lot.

“That’s just the building. The people are the church. We’ll be back bigger and stronger,” Lynn said.

In The Villages, one of the nation’s largest retirement communities, Lee Shaver said he shielded his wife Irene with his body while huddling in a closet as the roof peeled off their home. Fence posts launched as projectiles were embedded into the wall of their home, Irene Shaver said.

“Every muscle and bone in my body shook,” said Lee Shaver, 54. “We don’t know what to do. We have no cell phones, wallets, IDs.”

Wide swath without power
At least five crashes took place within a quarter mile of each other near Interstate 4’s New Smyrna Beach exit, closing the highway for about three hours.

In one case, a semitrailer was lifted up and landed on another semi, pinning the driver in his cab, said Kim Miller, a spokeswoman with the Florida Highway Patrol. The driver did not suffer life-threatening injuries, she said.

About 10,000 customers were without power across a wide swath of central Florida, Progress Energy spokeswoman Cherie Jacobs said.

cont'd

Walt Disney Co.’s Disney World, just south of Orlando, was not affected, a spokeswoman said.

Florida’s $9 billion citrus industry “truly dodged a bullet” since the storms hit on the northern edge of the orange-growing region, said Mike Sparks, chief executive officer of Florida Citrus Mutual. He said the impact to citrus was insignificant.

Deadliest in Fla. since 1998
Friday's storms were reminiscent of past tornadoes during years where El Nino was a weather factor, as it is this year.

In February 1998, five twisters hit near Orlando over two days, killing 42 people and damaging or destroying about 2,600 homes and businesses, according to the National Weather Service. It was Florida's deadliest tornado event on record.

One tornado ripped through a 9-mile stretch and narrowly missed the crowded tourist area that includes Disney World, Universal Studios Florida and Sea World.

About 1,000 tornadoes hit the United States annually, killing on average 80 people a year, and winter tornadoes appear to be more prevalent during El Nino years, when the waters of the eastern Pacific become unusually warm.

“This is something that we’ve seen here in the past in our state when we’ve had El Nino conditions in place,” said state meteorologist Ben Nelson.

20 people were killed last I heard 3 were still missing.

I had heard that the death toll had gone up but I hadn't seen anything about it in the media as of yet.

In one place called the Villages between 1000 and 1200 homes were lost. So many people were left homeless. Many in one town of only 700 in population lost 13 members of their population. Many others were trailer homes and many of those people didn't have home insurance because the home insurance rates are outrageous here in Florida. These people are totally desolate. The county of Volusia has been putting prisoners to work to help clean up the debris, but of course even in the worst of situations people find a reason to complain, now they are complaining that these prisoners are working too close to a school.

Complaining about getting help.  ::) ::)

There should be no reason to be concerned as long as they are not maximum security prisoners and the prisoners are being properly supervised. It just gets more ridiculous all the time.

FEMA is finally putting people in trailer homes, and those that were hit by the Christmas Day tornadoes are finally getting help too. So far I believe that 30 families have been put into brand new trailer homes over 300 still are waiting and many others have been placed elsewhere. We had tornado warnings here again 2 days ago, it seems like we are getting them almost every week now. And pretty soon it will be hurricane season again. Thank God that according to the meteorologist forecasts we won't be getting any, but then again they can always be wrong, I am praying we won't.