Tornado Destroys Homes in Northern Florida

A tornado that tore across a section of northern Florida destroyed several homes and damaged a hospital, college and church Monday. Several people suffered minor injuries.

The twister touched down in the small community of Francis, then moved east to Palatka, cutting a 400-yard swath through the area but missing two elementary schools, a middle school and Palatka High School.

“Our fire station in Francis reported the tornado because they were hit,” Dean Kelly, Putnam County’s director of public safety, told the Palatka Daily News.

Jane and Pat Kemp were inside their auto repair garage when the storm struck just before noon, collapsing the building.

“We were able to crawl out,” Jane Kemp said as she surveyed damage that included a Ford Bronco that was crushed when a truck was tossed on top of it. Three persons were treated at Putnam Community Hospital, including two who suffered lacerations and one with a back injury.

Authorities said a man also suffered burns to his hands when he picked up part of a downed transformer line, and four people suffered chest pains that might have been caused by anxiety.

Seven homes were destroyed in unincorporated Putnam County, 19 suffered major damage and 152 had minor damage, Kelly said.

In Palatka, a building housing the Real Life Evangelistic Pentecostal Center collapsed.

“We will rebuild, but we don’t have insurance,” said the minister, Dorothy Moody. No one was in the church at the time the tornado hit.

Other damaged structures included several buildings on the St. Johns River Community College campus. At the nearby Palatka Oaks Apartments, windows were blown out of apartments and doors were ripped off.