JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Toppled trees, downed powerlines and damaged homes are some of the impacts left behind from Friday’s storms.
The National Weather Service confirmed that an EF-1 tornado, reaching 100 mph touched down on Jacksonville’s Southside.
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A brief tornado 🌪️ touched down a couple of times in the Southside/Arlington area of Jacksonville earlier this afternoon.
— NWS Jacksonville (@NWSJacksonville) June 28, 2024
After surveying the damage, the preliminary rating of this tornado has been determined to be EF-1, with peak wind speeds of 100 mph. #flwx pic.twitter.com/LFnhZEK7t9
Courtney Coldiron
Current tornado warning as seen from TopGolf
The strong storms slammed the Grove Park neighborhood and other areas.
Barbara Hanuscin attempted to close her windows when the winds picked up and the rain got heavy.
“I could barely get them closed. The trees were going crazy. I saw treetops from my neighbor’s property spin around and drop in my yard,” Hanuscin said.
After the storm passed, she went outside and found a tree in her backyard that was split in half. A portion of the split tree crushed her neighbor’s fence and fell onto her neighbor’s garage.
Hanuscin sustained minor damage to her home when an electrical line leading to her home ripped from the wall.
Hanuscin’s storm damage was minor compared to her neighbor’s house down the street.
The back of a two-story Grove Park home on Grove Park Boulevard and Catalina Road was crushed when a tree fell on the screened-in back porch.
No one was home when the tree came down, but the homeowner also said she had extensive damage to her roof.
“Well, I was crying over my tree right here because I loved this tree, but when I went to the back I really wanted to cry,” Darlene Griffith said. “I am thankful that we were not here, and all our animals were safe.”
There were no other reports of any injuries in the community.
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JEA crews were working to restore power to thousands of people who lost electricity in East Arlington along Atlantic Boulevard.
Marty Richards was home when the storms came through.
“It was crazy. Lightening and wind blowing hard. We have two-and-a-half inches of rain at my house in less than a half-hour,” Richards said.
Trevor Jones was also inside his home.
“Brought my dogs in right before the storm came through. It was a pretty good freight train, basically hurricane-force winds for a couple of minutes and it died down after that.”
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JEA also recommended that homeowners consider hiring an expert to inspect trees on their properties.
They said a threat assessment could determine if a specific tree has the potential to fall onto a home.
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