Florida Storm Leaves Scores Homeless
Nearly 100 families in the Miami area were homeless Tuesday after torrential rains, howling winds and tornadoes ripped through southern Florida in the worst storms to hit the area in five years.
The storms late Monday uprooted trees, damaged homes and buildings, pulled down power lines and flooded streets over a wide area. A fisherman was killed near Key West, police said.
A preliminary damage assessment by the American Red Cross listed 91 families as homeless in the Miami Springs, Hialeah, Carol City and Opa Locka districts of Greater Miami after winds and rain wrecked their houses.
People in the ravaged areas retrieved possessions and surveyed the ruins of their homes Tuesday morning. Power company teams worked to restore power to 220,000 customers.
The damage to the electrical service was the worst since the “Storm of the Century” hit the East Coast in 1993, the Florida Power and Light Co. said.
The storm roared in from the Gulf of Mexico on Monday, bringing sheets of rain and spectacular thunder and lightning.
The National Weather Service confirmed that four tornadoes had touched down in the Miami area.
The storm was forecast to cause coastal flooding and other problems as it moved up the U.S. Eastern Seaboard today, Robert Molleda of the National Weather Service said in Miami.
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