EF3 Tornado — St. Lucie, Florida

2024-10-09 · near Ft Pierce Nelson Arp, St. Lucie, Florida

Event narrative

A National Weather Service survey team confirmed an unusually strong, long-tracked tornado in association with Hurricane Milton produced widespread EF-1 to EF-2 damage, and periodic EF-3 damage within St. Lucie and Indian River counties. The survey determined that the tornado touched down to the south of Midway Rd. in Fort Pierce and continued on a nearly continuous path for approximately 21 miles until it moved offshore into the Atlantic Ocean near Jaycee Park in Indian River County.

Significant vegetative and structural damage was observed along nearly the entire path length, indicating the tornado was continuous. Initial structural damage occurred within the Creekside Subdivision and Sunnier Palms Park and Campground along Okeechobee Rd. Here, several homes within the Creekside community suffered partial roof loss, while numerous mobile and manufactured homes within the Sunnier Palms community suffered major damage or were destroyed. Extensive tree damage was also noted in the area.

The tornado continued north-northeast over rural portions of St. Lucie County, parallel to S Kings Hwy. Here, the tornado strengthened to EF-3, with peak winds up to 155 mph. Two large warehouses along Orange Ave., one brand new construction, experienced major damage with greater than 50% of the structure collapsed.

Damage was noted in rural areas adjacent to Kings Hwy as the tornado traveled north, resulting in occasional significant structural damage as well as numerous downed trees and power lines. EF-3 tornado damage occurred one final time at a truss company along Kings Hwy, where greater than 50% of a steel/metal building collapsed. The tornado then intersected subdivisions in the northern part of the county where additional residential damage was observed. Numerous single family homes in both Holiday Pines and Portofino Shores experienced significant roof, soffit, and siding damage, where the tornado likely continued as an EF-2 with peak winds estimated between 110 - 125 mph.

The most prolific and extensive damage from the event was noted in the Spanish Lakes community, where a total of six storm-related fatalities were confirmed. Numerous mobile and manufactured homes were destroyed along the western edge of the community, where the tornado produced high-end EF-2 winds of 125 - 135 mph. An initial survey of the community indicates over 20 homes were tossed (some flipped) from their foundation. Despite the extensive damage to the communities' manufactured homes, nearly all concrete block structures in the community experienced relatively minor or moderate damage. The tornado then moved into Indian River County.

Wider weather episode

Hurricane Milton moved ashore the west-central Florida coast as a category 3 hurricane on Oct 9 around 1930EST. The system continued slowly in an east-northeast trajectory across central Florida, becoming a category 1 hurricane before emerging into the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Canaveral. The outer rainbands of Milton overspread the Florida peninsula earlier in the day, leading to a prolific tornado outbreak across Okeechobee, Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River, Osceola and Brevard counties with over 19 confirmed tornadoes within a 4-hour period. Milton's slow forward motion produced very heavy rainfall, with significant urban and street flooding particularly near and north of the center's track, as well as a significant river flood event along the St. Johns. Considerable tree damage and some structural damage occurred due to the system's tropical storm force winds, and hurricane force wind gusts, particularly near and north of the track of the center.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (27.3740, -80.4270)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1220127. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.