SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. – As families start to clean up debris and make plans to repair their homes in Whispering Winds, crews are out assessing the damage and clearing pathways in the neighborhood that was hit hardest by a severe storm Monday morning.
The National Weather Service confirmed an EF-2 tornado touched down near the Wekiwa Springs State Park around 9:35 a.m. and made its way northeast through the Wingfield Reserve and Whispering Winds neighborhoods in the Longwood area.
By 9:41 a.m., the tornado had moved towards Interstate 4 and dissipated near Skyline Drive, according to an NWS damage survey.
Tuesday, a spokesperson for Seminole County provided new perspective to our News 6 team of how impactful the tornado was, according to early assessments. They estimate around $10 million in damage, and said roughly 52 homes were impacted in some way.
Crews with the county’s public works department are working to clear out debris so people can access their street and their homes. Our News 6 team returned to the Whispering Winds subdivision where numerous windows were blown out by strong winds, and roofs, awnings, and patio enclosures were damaged.
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A home on Blue Iris Place collapsed due to peak winds up to 120 mph, according to an NWS damage survey.
Emily Sless, who lives on a nearby street, has a clear view towards that home from her backyard. She showed us the likely path of the tornado as it cut through her lawn. She says her family is finding personal items all over from neighbors who now have holes in their houses.
“You find personal belongings from their home, scattered everywhere. It’s just like pieces,” Sless said. “I’ve never been through a tornado. All of the hurricanes that you encounter, I’ve never seen this much debris.”
Sless said her neighbor’s roof lifted off and parts of it flew across the street towards her house. She believes trucks that were parked outside stopped the projectiles from coming through the front windows.
“I mean, my daughter wasn’t at home, she was at school, but it would have gone into her bedroom,” Sless said.
Sless said her pool screen was destroyed, a fence, and her roof suffered some damage. Overall, she counts herself lucky.
“Thank god no one on our street was hurt,” she said.. “That’s the important part. Everything else can be replaced. It may take a while, but it’s replaceable.”
Patrick Sless, her husband, was at home as the storm passed through Monday morning. He described what it was like to our News 6 crew.
“It was crazy. We were sitting in the house in the morning, my son was sleeping, and I was still getting my day started and firing up all my Teams meetings and doing emails and there was just a normal, slight rain drizzle going on. All of the sudden the winds intensified really, really bad and at some point, I knew something wasn’t right,” Patrick Sless said. “I called my son into the closet, which is like in the middle of the house and we just kind of hunkered down until the wind stopped.”
Sless said it was over within a minute, and when he went outside to see what happened he couldn’t believe the devastation.
“It looks like a warzone,” Emily Sless said. “Nothing like I’ve ever seen before.”
The Sless’s shared video from their home security system that shows what it looked like at the height of the storm.
“You hear in the movies and stuff like a freight train coming by. It had a similar sound to that, and you looked outside, and it was like a misty white. You could just see the intensity of the wind and the debris going by,” said Patrick Sless.
He said when he sees what other neighbors are dealing with on his street, he counts his blessings.
“It’s just a reminder that every day is a gift, right?” he said.