Photos Show Tornado Damage To Structures In Clearwater, Crystal River

CLEARWATER, FL — Clearwater police are restricting access to the northern part of Clearwater Beach due to the damage from a tornado that touched down early Thursday morning, damaging at least two homes. Reports said Dunedin also suffered damage to homes and businesses from the storm.

The NWS has issued a tornado watch in effect until 3 p.m. Thursday for Hillsborough, Manatee and Pinellas counties including the cities of Bayshore Gardens, Bradenton, Brandon, Clearwater, Largo, Palmetto, St. Petersburg and Tampa.

Other counties under the watch include: Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Citrus, Clay, Columbia, Dixie, Duval, Flagler, Gilchrist, Hernando, Lafayette, Lake, Levy, Marion, Orange, Putnam, Seminole, St. Johns, Sumter, Suwannee, Taylor and Union.

Strong thunderstorms will affect parts of Pasco, Pinellas and Hillsborough counties through 12:45 p.m, the National Weather Service said. Just before noon, radar was tracking a cluster of strong thunderstorms near offshore Pinellas County extending northeast and moving northeast at 40 mph. Wind gusts up to 40 mph and possible funnel clouds are a hazard.

Impacted areas include Tampa, Clearwater, Largo, Pinellas Park, Temple Terrace, Seminole, Lutz, Holiday, St. Petersburg, Palm Harbor, South Highpoint, Tampa International Airport, Egypt Lake-Leto, Greater Carrollwood, the University area in Tampa, Ridgecrest, Bay Pines, Keystone, Greater Northdale and East Lake.

The NWS has now confirmed that at least two tornadoes touched down in Florida early Thursday morning: one in North Clearwater Beach and another in Citrus County.

"There was significant damage throughout multiple areas in the city," said Crystal River Mayor Joe Meeks, who provided photos of the damage including one showing the destruction of the pro shop at the Plantation Resort Golf and Country Club.

Because the west side of Citrus County experienced significant damage, all public school classes were canceled," said Linda Blair, public information officer for the Citrus County School District. she said all sports and extracurricular activities have been canceled as well.

"Right now, we have teams assessing damage at schools and will get more insight into the full scope of damage to buildings once the sun comes up," she said.

"There are other potential tornado impact areas that we will be assessing based on radar and damage reports, photos/videos submitted to us from emergency management and media, as well as a wealth of data mined from social media," said NWS meteorologists.

According to Clearwater police, officers and firefighters were called to the area around Eldorado Avenue just after 2 a.m. for a report of a tornado touching down.

"It sounded like all heck was busting loose outside," said Clearwater resident Manny Carrasquillo. "North Clearwater Beach was smacked up."

"I had awoken at 1:20 a.m. with the enormous, loud rain and wind, not knowing a tornado hit so close to where I live," said Kathleen Slaven of Clearwater.

She said she learned how close the tornado was to her home with a neighbor sent her a photo taken near the Carlouel Yacht Club on North Clearwater Beach, showing one building that was torn apart and debris strewn throughout the area.

"I'm feeling very, very blessed there was no damage here," she said.

In addition to damaging two homes, streets and yards in the area are strewn with debris from fallen tree limbs, awnings, roofing, fencing, building materials and unsecured outdoor furniture. However, police said no injuries have been reported at this time.

The tornado was spawned by a storm system that swept through Pinellas, Pasco Manatee and Hillsborough counties in the early-morning hours.

Reports are still coming in, but it appears that north Clearwater Beach and Crystal River in Citrus County received the brunt of the damage, according to the National Weather Service in Ruskin.

However, the city of Dunedin is reporting extensive damage that has forced the city to close the Dunedin Causeway.

Pinellas County emergency response personnel said they're still assessing the damage from Thursday's storm and are asking residents to report damage to their homes, roads or public property at disaster.pinellas.gov.

At 1:41 a.m., radar indicated a waterspout had formed just offshore of Clearwater Beach near Harbor Bluffs and predicted it would make landfall around Clearwater, East Lake and Palm Harbor around 1:45 a.m. and Holiday, Keystone and Beacon Square around 1:55 a.m.

The NWS issued a tornado warning at 1:59 a.m. alerting residents that a severe thunderstorm Thursday had been detected over Palm Harbor and near Holiday in Pasco County moving northeast across Pinellas and Pasco counties at 35 mph.

The NWS said the dangerous storm caused severe damage to mobile homes as well as to the roofs and windows of permanent structures and parked cars.

In addition to North Clearwater Beach, meteorologists said the tornadic storm impacted the Keystone, Safety Harbor, Honeymoon Island, Caladesi Island, Belleair, East Lake, Beacon Square, Crystal Beach, Elfers, Trinity and Oldsmar areas.

Pinellas County emergency management officials are warning residents that higher-than-normal tides may cause minor coastal flooding throughout Thursday morning and into the afternoon.

Coastal and barrier island residents and those traveling through these areas should prepare for localized flooding.

Tarpon Springs resident Holly Slay captured a video of the waterspout as it came ashore near the Dunedin Causeway.