EF1 Tornado — Lee, Florida

2007-09-16 · near Cape Coral, Lee, Florida

Event narrative

Thunderstorms continued to develop northward along the sea breeze front and produced a tornado that traveled due north from near the intersection of Rose Garden and and El Dorado Parkway West to near Skyline Boulevard and Veterans memorial Parkway. The damage path was less than the size of a single family home for most of the track and the average wind speed based on the damage was 65-75 MPH. The EF1 damage was of a home nearly cut in half by the tornado with wind speeds estimated at 105 MPH. The lower than expected wind estimate was a result of older building codes and the roof blowout occurred as a result of a large picture window being blown in. About 138 homes were damaged. Six homes received moderate damage and one home was destroyed. The tornado snapped several power poles and damaged numerous fences, sheds and trees. Several vehicles and boats were flipped over. There was one injury as a gentleman looked outside to see the tornado and was struck by debris. Thirty people were displaced from their homes. Damage estimates were based on a survey completed by Cape Coral Emergency Management.

Wider weather episode

A waterspout and at least two tornadoes formed along the west Florida coast sea breeze front in the Fort Myers area.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (26.5500, -81.9800)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 49851. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.