Florida tornado hits mobile homes

Monica Olivas in Disaster News Network: Residents are picking through the mess while disaster response workers are assessing damage from a tornado that hit this eastern Florida community Friday evening. The tornado touched down in three mobile home communities and at least 154 homes are reported to have sustained damage, but Port Orange Fire and Rescue officials expect that number to climb as the area is canvassed.

As many as 65 homes have major damage and are unfit for habitation right now. Those displaced residents are staying with family, friends and neighbors. Four or five of those are completely destroyed – the official number is still unknown.

Port Orange Council members have declared a state of emergency for the area, although Tanya Dilardi, Fire and Rescue PIO for Port Orange, said she does not expect a state or federal emergency declaration.

Early estimates of the cost of damage are about $2.6 million. Port Orange is just south of Daytona Beach, in Volusia County. The county has faced much weather related damage in the last five years – including seven Presidential declarations in that time….

City Hall in Port Orange, Florida, shot by Ebyabe, under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2