EF1 Tornado — Indian River, Florida

2024-10-09 · near Vero Lake Estates, Indian River, Florida

Event narrative

This tornado, the first of two to impact downtown Vero Beach, likely touched down in Vero Beach South along US-1 near 12th St. where generally vegetative damage was noted in the form of downed trees. Damage to residences and businesses was noted further to the north, particularly to roofs, as the tornado likely strengthened and produce wind speeds of up to 85 mph.

The circulation intersected the Vero Beach Police Department at approximately 1453EST per surveillance video where several trees and utility poles were downed. A mesonet weather station at the facility recorded a peak wind gust of 92 mph at 1455EST. Several trees were downed in neighborhoods to the north of 20th St and US-1. The tornado continued on a north northwest path, generally near and just east of US-1 and the railroad tracks before diminishing as it moved into the Gifford area.

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 → (27.6178, -80.3883)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1220139. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.