Collier County hit hard by latest round of severe weather

FORT MYERS, Fla. – For the third time in eight days, a line of strong storms passed through Southwest Florida early Sunday morning, resulting in another round of strong winds and severe thunderstorms resulting in flooding and property damage.

Unlike the previous two storms, no tornados were reported in Collier, Charlotte or Lee counties, but two people were killed after a tornado touched down in Manatee County.

A confirmed tornado also touched down in the Siesta Lakes community in Sarasota County.

#WX #Update: 350+ properties inspected, <45 of those sustained damage. Est. total dollar value of damage: >$3mill. pic.twitter.com/WZ5SZn2H8Z

— SarasotaCountyGov (@SRQCountyGov) January 17, 2016

Collier damage

Most of Sunday’s storm damage was in Collier County, where the North Collier Fire District responded to more than 70 calls for service.

The majority of the calls were for downed power lines on roadways and structures, fire alarms, reported tornado touch downs and trees on roads and structures, said James Cunningham, chief of operations, on the department’s Facebook page.

“As the power is being turned back on, it is causing additional calls for service because trees and branches are in power lines, causing them to arc and causing some brush fires,” he said. “Operations crews must remain on scene where fire hazards exist and secure the area from pedestrian and vehicle traffic. The power companies are taking longer than normal to arrive based on their call volume.”

Most of the downed trees were in the Grey Oaks and Wyndemere communities, as well as in areas south of Pine Ridge Road, Cunningham said. Beach areas were completely underwater during the storm, resulting in significant eroding due to the rough surf that followed, he added.

Peak wind speeds of more than 80 mph were recorded at Naples Municipal Airport, resulting in damage to a number of private airplanes, including one owned by Judge Judy:

“Nothing like a hurricane, but we did have 83 mph wind at the airport this morning, so it was like a small hurricane,” Naples Mayor John Sorey said.

Damage from high winds led the Naples Zoo to close on Sunday. Officials expect the zoo to reopen on Monday.

At one point, about 7,000 homes were without power as storm damage stretched from Naples to Immokalee.

All Southwest Florida counties were under a tornado watch until 8 a.m. as heavy rain began pounding the region as early as 4 a.m. Most areas across the region were either under a tornado or severe thunderstorm warning during the early morning hours. The region was also under a wind advisory until 7 p.m.

The high winds resulted in rough waves, something that surfer Nathan Fitzgerald was trying to utilize.

“Once in a blue moon,” he said of the large waves. “Definitely once in a blue moon. Have to make the best of it. Yea, they’re pretty crazy out there.”

Unusual weather

Sunday’s storms were the third bout of severe weather in the region within the past eight days, including an EF2 tornado that stuck Cape Coral on Jan. 9 and an EF1 tornado that struck Fort Myers on Friday.

WINK News Chief Meterologist Jim Farrell called the recent storm activity unusual, but also noted its brevity in relation to other storms in the region. Sunday’s storm moved east from the Gulf of Mexico at speeds up to 65 mph, which Farrell said was fast for a line of storms.

Sunday’s storm made landfall near the Naples Pier and moved through the center of downtown Naples, said Stephen Konarik, lead forecaster with the National Weather Service’s Miami office.

“We’ll be retracing the steps of the storm to determine what sort of storm actually occurred and what caused the damage,” he said. “As it looks now we have a very wide area and long path area of damaging thunderstorm winds. There have not been any visual sightings reported to us of a tornado so we’re going to be going off of damage characteristics.”

The severe weather, which is unusual for this time of year, is due to the presence of El Nino, which is unusually warm water in the Pacific Ocean that influences weather patterns around the globe, Konarik said.

“Everyone should be aware that in El Niño years, there’s a higher risk of severe thunderstorms across Southwest Florida,” he said. “As we’ve already witnessed in the past week or so, tornadoes can accompany those severe thunderstorms. Tornadoes aren’t all that common in Southwest Florida, however, as we’ve witnessed, they can and do occur.”