Possible severe storms to return to South Florida after Saturday's tornado in Fort Lauderdale

FORT LAUDERDALE — A tornado touched down in Downtown Fort Lauderdale on Saturday evening, shortly after the National Weather Service issued a tornado warning for the area.

There were no immediate reports of injuries and only scattered power outages were reported from the twister, which was captured by many residents and posted to social media accounts. Several videos were shared on X, showing a funnel cloud forming above downtown Fort Lauderdale and making a touchdown in the area. Some of the videos found also showed the funnel cloud causing some sort of explosion as it spun.

On Sunday, the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Miami sent a team to the area to survey the impacted areas in which the tornado blew through, examining the damage and interviewing impacted residents.

According to NWS Senior Meteorologist Robert Garcia, the tornado touched down north of the Lauderdale Yacht Club around 5:47 p.m. before heading northeastward towards State Road A1A, impacting the Rio Vista and Las Olas Isles neighborhoods. It then dissipated when it reached the Intracoastal Waterway around 5:50 p.m. CBS News Miami's NEXT Weather radar picked up on wind rotation around 5:45 p.m. when the severe weather blew through the area.

The tornado traveled along a 1.5-mile path with a max width of 100 yards and a max wind speed of 80 mph. According to Garcia, that would've made the tornado an EF-0 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale -- the measurement system that meteorologists use to give tornadoes "ratings" based on estimated wind speeds and related damage, with EF-5 being the strongest. 

As the tornado gained strength, it made contact with some structures, power lines and marine vessels in the immediate area, Fort Lauderdale Police told CBS News Miami. The first signs of damage were along Southeast 12th Street, where large branches were down in front of a home, the NWS Miami report stated.

"The house started shaking, and the doors started shaking and then the wind really picked up," said Jody Lewis whose home was damaged.  

Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue then responded to calls of a damaged vessel at 1 Las Olas Circle and a damaged home at 1733 SE 10th Street. One fireboat and land-based units checked the vessels within the Las Olas basin and discovered that no people were injured, and nobody was in distress. However, the land units found roof damage at a nearby home. Property and vessel damage have not displaced any people at this time, FLPD told CBS News Miami.

The City of Fort Lauderdale stated X (formerly known as Twitter), saying there have been no reports of injuries so far and FLFR crews are assessing the damage, which appears to be minor at this time.  

"The public should be cautious of any debris and downed power lines in the area," the city stated.

Police also told CBS News Miami that FLFR performed an extensive area assessment from the area of Bahia Mar north to Sunrise Boulevard to further confirm that there were no injuries or other structures significantly damaged.

However, Saturday's event is not the only day for potentially severe weather this week, as forecasts predict Tuesday would require extra monitoring, Garcia added.

"It's one of the reasons why in our interviews, we heard from a lot of folks received the warning both on television, on radio and also on their cell phones when it was issued, and they had time to get to shelter and be safe," he said. "That's why we're very grateful that there were no injuries sustained by anyone involved in this."

But, Garcia reiterated the possibility of more severe weather this week, reminding everyone to have different ways of receiving that information that could "wake you up."

"These things can hit really quickly, sometimes with little to no advance notice besides the warning going off on your phone. So, when you do receive the warning — whether it's on television, on your phone, however you receive it — take it seriously," he said.

Garcia said when you receive those alerts, you may have moments to act and get to safety, so you want to make sure you can get into an interior room away from windows in the lowest level of your home and that gives you the best chance against the winds and anything that's potentially thrown as a lot of debris can be thrown during tornadoes that could cause injury.

According to Garcia, the team found tarps, portions of awning, and fencing impacted by plywood from construction sides as the type of debris thrown around during the tornado. Additionally, some neighborhoods received a lot of tree damage, particularly oak trees and other long-lived trees.

"At this point, we're just grateful that folks weren't hurt and again, another reminder to take it seriously when you receive a tornado warning on your phone or on your television watching, any which way you receive it, take it seriously, take action -- it could protect your life or the lives of those you care of," he said.

Winter is a season for severe storm activity, Garcia added, saying that another cold front approaching the region late Monday through Wednesday could open up another window for severe thunderstorms and that South Florida would be very breezy and windy, along with possible tornadic activity to monitor.

Garcia told CBS News Miami "it's not terribly unusual" to see this kind of weather pattern appear in Broward County, especially since the El Nino in the eastern Pacific has made the waters warmer for the last few months. He said that is what leads to us seeing a lot more severe storm activity in the South.

"For us in South Florida, climatologically, you can look through our history [and see] a lot of our more impactful tornadoes occur. And one of the other things too is that we have a lot of nighttime tornado activity," he said.

Garcia said Broward County residents were fortunate that this tornado was during a time of day when people could see it and act quickly, pointing toward all the video shared online. He added that on the flip side, if this were to happen closer to nighttime when people were asleep and in bed, that's when you would see fatalities.

"You really want to make sure that with this week coming up, you always have a way to get warnings for tornadoes or any other severe storm that could wake you up — that's a really important thing," Garcia said.

"You don't have to do a ton to get you safe, you just have to get into those interior rooms, away from those windows and if it comes through your area, hopefully you'll be safe in there and from being impacted," he added.

In:
• Tornado Watch
• South Florida
• Fort Lauderdale
• Tornado Warning
• Tornado