Tornado in Wellington leaves property damage, no injuries

By Jerome Burdi | SunSentinel

1:14 PM EDT, August 19, 2008

Wellington - A tornado tore across a two-mile span of Wellington in just moments early this morning but left hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damage, officials said. No one was injured.

The tornado spun off from Tropical Storm Fay and was first spotted about 1:30 a.m. at Carlton Street and Greenview Shores Boulevard, National Weather Service meteorologist Robert Molleda said.

It ripped through the homes on Folkstone Circle and the Yarmouth Court cul-de-sac. It tore through screen porches, pushed tree branches through windshields, and sent pieces of metal flying through the streets. At least one piece of metal debris shot through a woman's home like a javelin. Most people had not put up their shutters.

They expected Fay to push into the west coast with little effect on South Florida.

They didn't bank on the twister.

"There was glass flying and wind whipping through the house," said Cori McHugh, who had a metal rod fly through a bedroom in her house.

The power went on and off. When she went outside, there was only darkness.

The tornado also touched down at the Palm Beach Equine Clinic in the 13000 block of Southfields Road where about 25 horses were stabled. The night technician there saw lightning flash and heard the typical tornado sound of a freight train approaching. She ran into the clinic and hit the ground as the windows shattered.

The wooden stable where Onyx, an 8-year-old quarter horse was lifted up above the horse and smashed on the ground. Onyx was not injured.

"She was standing in her shelter one second and standing out in the air the next," county Fire-Rescue Deputy Chief Steve Delai said.

"It's just an anomaly and one lucky horse" said Bob Ebaugh, a weather service specialist for the National Weather Service in west Miami-Dade.

Three unoccupied barns were heavily damaged, clinic co-owner Dr. Bob Brusie said. He said the clinic, built in 1985, never received weather damage before.

Though tornados are common in South Florida, Molleda could not recall any hitting Wellington before.

"When I first came here, I cried," said Corinne Hermans, director of the clinic's hospital services. "I didn't think it would be that bad."