2 dead, several injured after severe weather in Florida

“I’m amazed to see anybody got out of this alive”, Manatee County Sheriff Brad Steube said in a Sunday news conference. All the victims in Duette were members of one family who lived in a mobile home. Steven Wilson, 58, was pronounced dead at the scene by deputies responding to the residence on Albritton Road just after 4 a.m. Kelli Wilson, 51, was pronounced dead at a hospital. As of Sunday afternoon, authorities believed the injuries the four children and Stephen M. Wilson suffered are not life threatening.

The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office has reported through multiple media outlets that two people died from tornado damage in Manatee County overnight. At least one home in Siesta Key was destroyed and a woman had to be pulled from the wreckage by first responders. Others mobile homes were damaged, the roofs or siding partially peeled back, Fleming said.

There were no deaths in that incident, but roughly 17,000 residents were left without power, and hundreds of homes experienced severe property damage.

Several buildings in a condo complex on Siesta Key were damaged, he said. What was once someones home, is now a pile of debris after the category EF2 tornado with winds between 111 and 135 miles-per-hour touched down.

Richard Rude, National Weather Service meteorologist, said that tornadoes aren’t uncommon in the area.

Dozens of homes were destroyed or damaged and a couple was killed. Trees were uprooted, minor flooding was reported and parking structures were mangled in the city.

During El Nino years, the powerful upper level jet stream winds tend to drop farther south, over Florida, bringing faster winds and more moisture at the surface.