EF1 Tornado — St. Lucie, Florida

2024-10-09 · near Port St Lucie, St. Lucie, Florida

Event narrative

A NWS Storm Survey confirms that a tornado, which initially touched down in Palm Beach County (near SR 98) and continued into Martin County, produced additional damage in St. Lucie County. The circulation entered Martin County near Harbor Ridge Yacht and Country Club where it produced minor (EF-0) damage to a few of the mainly concrete block structure homes within the subdivision.

Video from SKYWARN Spotters indicate the tornado then emerged into the St. Lucie River and became a well-defined waterspout. The waterspout moved ashore the St. Lucia River Club at Ballantrae where significant vegetative damage and minor property damage resulted consistent with an EF-1 tornado with peak winds of up to 90 mph.

Vegetative damage, along with sporadic property damage mainly in the form of shingle loss, soffit damage, etc. continued generally in a north direction across US-1 and into the Savannas Preserve State Park in Port St. Lucie, coincident with EF-0 type damage

with winds up to 80 mph.

Radar data suggests the tornado intensified briefly before entering the Indian River Estates subdivision where numerous homes were affected. Here, several parked vehicles were flipped and tossed, and a few homes experienced partial roof loss, suggesting the tornado produced peak winds of up to 95 mph. The circulation continued northward into Fort Pierce was it appears to have dissipated near the Dixieland and High Point subdivisions.

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 → (27.2060, -80.3030)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 1221436. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.