Stormy weather producing wind, rain in South Florida

Published: Updated:

PENSACOLA, Fla. (AP) – Crews worked to clear roads and restore power in the western Panhandle early Tuesday as fresh line of violent storms hit South Florida during the morning rush hour.

A tornado is believed to have touched town in Century, a small town on the Florida-Alabama border Monday night. The storm destroyed or significantly damaged 10 homes. Other areas of the western Panhandle reported brief power outages as the storm system moved through the region Monday night. Fallen tree limbs and other debris littered roadways in some areas of downtown Pensacola.

Early Tuesday, the National Weather Service reported some wind damage in Broward and Miami-Dade counties.

A strong line of thunderstorms passed through Miami-Date County just before 9 a.m. Tuesday, National Weather Service meteorologist Chuck Caracozza said. The same system went through Palm Beach and Broward counties during the morning commute, bringing dark skies, heavy rain and wind.

Caracozza said teams from the National Weather Service would survey the area to determine whether a tornado touched down. He said wind and rain would be out of the region by mid-day, leaving colder weather with temperatures expected to dip to around 60 degrees in South Florida on Tuesday night.

About 10 miles north of Fort Lauderdale, a suspected tornado damaged about 50 horse stables, briefly trapping the animals, said Sandra King, spokeswoman for the Pompano Beach Fire Rescue Department. She said one horse suffered a gash and was being treated. She said the suspected tornado also damaged a movie theater.

Morgan Barry, a meteorologist with The National Weather Service in Mobile, Alabama, said survey crews from that office were on the ground in north Florida and south Alabama and were working to determine the extent of damage and severity of storms that passed through that region Monday.

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