A large and “extremely dangerous” tornado, formed on the outer band of Hurricane Milton, tore across Clewiston and other cities along Florida’s Gulf Coast on Wednesday (October 9) morning as residents prepared for the massive storm to make landfall.
Video footage shared by FOX Weather displayed the violent event in realtime as citizens in nearby cars rushed off to safety.
Fort Myers, just over an hour drive from Clewiston, also experienced tornado damage ahead of Hurricane Milton’s landfall. FOX Weather Correspondent Brandy Campbell spoke to Leroy, a local who described the terrifying scene.
“It was really scary. I was inside watching the news about it and I must have drifted off [to sleep] and my daughter man, she was just screaming through the house you know. And that’s when the front door blew inside of the house. So all of that breeze, all of that water was coming inside.”
Leroy revealed he’d been around for few Category 5 hurricanes in the past, but didn’t plan to stick around ( like others, despite being warned to evacuate) to brave Hurricane Milton’s merciless force.
“Life is precious man, it ain’t worth it, ya know?”
The storm is predicted to be so deadly that Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody told residents planning to stay behind to ID their bodies, per Newsweek.
“You probably need to write your name in permanent marker on your arm so that people know who you are when they get to you afterwards.”
According to CNN, hurricane-force winds (which likely fueled the tornados) have officially begun to batter the Gulf Coast. Thousands have already evacuated in fear of what’s to come as Milton inches closer and closer to The Sunshine State.
Watch additional footage of the tornados wreaking havoc along Florida’s Gulf Coast below as citizens prepare for the worst.
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