‘Giant Dust Devil’ : Storm Spawns Twister, Lightning, Flooding

A tornado was spotted near this San Bernardino County town Monday afternoon as thunderstorms caused flooding and unleashed lightning that burned a cabin, officials said.

Diana Reinalda, a dispatcher with the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, said several residents called to say they had seen a tornado; there were no reports of injury or damage.

The National Weather Service issued a flash flood watch for the western San Bernardino County area and Riverside and San Diego counties from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday as heavy thunderstorms moved across the region.

A tornado warning was issued by the service at 5:44 p.m. Monday, effective until 6:24 p.m., for residents of western San Bernardino County.

Storm Called Dangerous

The tornado was reported at 5:40 p.m., five miles west of here, the service said, adding that the storm was dangerous and urging residents to take cover.

Twentynine Palms fire Capt. Dale Waddell said he listened to a radio communication from fire Capt. Jack McConaha, who had been watching the tornado’s path.

“He said it looked a giant dust devil,” Waddell said.

“Along with that twister there was heavy rain and surprise flooding,” Waddell said.

The conditions that produced the tornado had weakened by early evening, the weather service said.

Earlier Monday, lightning accompanying the storm struck and burned an unoccupied cabin near here, he said.

Heavy Thunderstorms

The weather service said radar had detected a few very heavy thunderstorms over the Southern California mountains and deserts, with the largest storms located around Big Bear Lake and in the San Jacinto Mountains above the Palm Springs and Cathedral City areas.

Other heavy thunderstorms were noted near Daggett and moving north into the mountains of San Diego County.

Isolated heavy storms with heavy rains were also seen near Daggett and along Interstate 15 near the Nevada border.

The storms were spawned from subtropical moisture moving up from Mexico.