6 dead after tornadoes hit St. Lucie County mobile home park
FORT PIERCE: Six people died at a senior mobile home community in St. Lucie County after Hurricane Milton touched down on Wednesday, the county's fire rescue said Thursday afternoon.
During a news conference earlier, Sheriff Keith Pearson said five died in tornadoes in the county spurred by Hurricane Milton without saying how many were killed at the retirement complex.
The deaths were at Spanish Lakes Country Club Village near Fort Pierce. The modular homes are off the Turnpike Feeder Road, west of Route 1.
"This is like nothing other we've seen," Pearson told CBS' affiliate WPEC.
Pearson said 12 confirmed high-strength tornadoes tore through the area within 20 minutes around 4:45 p.m.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis appeared at a news conference at the St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office.
A neighbor told CBS News Miami two people near him died in a crushed home. A neighbor rescued a dog from that home.
"At the end of my row, none of these manufactured homes are livable," he said. "These people don't know where to go or what to do."
CBS News Miami also spoke with a couple that was staying in a home when the first tornado hit. They ran to a second home that had a generator and hurricane impact windows. Then a second tornado hit.
One damaged home had shutters put up.
There were piles of debris and a mailbox was ripped off the post.
More than 100 personnel, including the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Florida Highway Patrol, National Guard and state Florida Fish & Wildlife, were on the scene, including some door-to-door at the community to conduct search and rescue operations.
They called off their search and rescue overnight because of bad weather conditions but resumed the search in the morning.
"Every possible thing we can do is being done to search the area. Check the residences and, if there is anyone inside the residences, we're going to work through the storm to get them out," Pearson said.
Pearson also said the SLCSO hangar was a total loss after a possible tornado ripped through the building.
At least 19 tornados were confirmed and 116 tornado warnings were issued across the state, DeSantis said at a news briefing Wednesday night.
That includes a tornado in western Broward County along Alligator Alley on Wednesday morning. No damaged or injuries were reported in that tornado.