Tornado touches down in south Fort Myers, wind damages homes

A tornado touched down in south Fort Myers on Friday afternoon.

Video from the storm shows the tornado touching down from a resident in the Lakewood Village community near Winkler Road and Gladiolus Drive.

The National Weather Service says the tornado was rated an EF0 with winds reaching 70 miles per hour.

The rotation touched down briefly before lifting back up and bringing debris into the air with it.

Neighbors say they saw the storm coming in, but had no idea the punch it would pack.

“The clouds started to swirl just like that and I knew exactly what it was. And it didn’t look bad, so I thought. Went and ran to get my camera. By the time I came out, garbage cans were flying across the street,” said Mark Schmidt.

Robert Fowler saw the storm quickly develop. Literally ripping the roof tiles off this home and throwing them all over the neighborhood.

“I saw leaves run across my yard that way and I just… There was debris. I could just feel it. I turned around and immediately ran in. Got my mom and the dogs into a safe position, came back out and there was just damage and debris everywhere,” said Fowler.

Neighbors spent hours cleaning up the mess. A WINK News crew saw piles of tree branches, roof tiles in the roadway, and things toppled over like garbage cans, basketball hoops, and a fence.

“It was their roof that it literally, that’s the point right there where it touched down,” said Fowler. “No sirens, not one single siren went off, yep. It was that fast.”

The shocking part for neighbors here is seeing the damage left behind.

“A garbage can flew across Overlook in front of my house. It bounced, but it was going fast,” said Schmidt.

Several neighbors had to go retrieve their trash cans that were thrown down the street. Some even ended up in neighbors’ yards multiple houses away.