Weather, Storms & Hurricane Blog

Stuart, Florida Aftermath Damage Pictures and Video

Well, Thursday turned out to be a pretty stormy day across most of Florida. Yesterday morning I posted on a stationary boundary that was expected to rebound northward as a warm front. Sure enough by midday, convergence was being enhanced by this boundary and storms rapidly developed over Southern Florida. There was numerous storms that formed and rain became widespread over much of the southern peninsula. Some of these storms became severe, producing damaging winds and hail, along with very heavy rainfall.

One of these severe storms developed over Central Martin County, Florida, and the storm peaked it’s intensity while of Stuart, Florida. Hail and severe damaging straight-line winds were the main feature of this storm and 97mph winds were reported at the local airport control tower. Witham Field Airport in Stuart Florida sustained straight-line wind damage and I survey this damage at sunset.

Surveying The Straight-Line Wind Damage - Martin County, Florida

I started on the south side of the airport and worked my way northward. I came across a few small planes flipped, and that were being up righted by a crane. There was roof damage to some of the hangers and small buildings, and sheet metal in the tree’s and power lines. There was many tree’s that had falling across some of the major roadways on the north side of the airport, and in a boat /trailer yard there was a tractor trailer that was thrown into a pickup truck. Other trailers were blown over, and some canopies were torn down. Power was out and power trucks were clearing the lines of debris to get the power restored during my little survey tour. You are welcome to view the storm damage aftermath video in this post by clicking this:

• [PLAY VIDEO] - 12.1mb / 3:52 / .WMV Video Clip

All in all, the damage was over a small area, maybe 1 ½ miles in length and 500 yards in width. I first though maybe a weak and small tornadic damage path, but most of all the damage I came across was spread out in one direction. The tree’s, street signs, and debris all were blasted towards the north-northeast, which was the movement of the storm at the time.

Florida Heavy Rains, Hail and Winds

Other storms did light damage in Palm Beach and Broward counties as well, with hail reports too. Overall Florida picked up very impressive rainfall totals for March from Orlando to Ft Lauderdale, and including inland locations around Lake Okeechobee and the Kissimmee River basin. More storms are expected today with the passage of a pre-frontal squall line. I’ll be monitoring this as well throughout the day and will have apost dedicated to that weather setup later this afternoon.

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