Winter storm rips into Florida counties

A large storm system spoiled Christmas for many Floridians on Monday, destroying homes across several counties.

More than 5 inches of rain swamped the Tallahassee area.

Volusia County seemed hardest hit in central Florida, though Lake, Osceola and Sumter counties also were slammed by the fast-moving storm system.

In Volusia, a twister in the DeLand area hit four mobile-home parks -- damaging up to 200 homes -- then struck a Daytona Beach apartment complex, where 200 people evacuated.

Two people were critically injured and five others received minor injuries because of the storm, said EVAC Ambulance spokesman Mark O’Keefe.

“I’ve heard the damage is widespread and pretty significant,” said Volusia County Fire Services spokeswoman Shelley Szafraniec. Search-and-rescue teams were expected to work throughout the night.

About 50 airplanes at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach were damaged when heavy winds threw them against buildings, snapped off wings or caused them to overturn, according to school spokesman Jim Hampton.

Roads were closed in both the DeLand and Daytona Beach areas because of downed power lines and storm debris.

National Weather Service forecasters in Melbourne said they’d been expecting the deluge, which was influenced by El Nino. Winds were clocked in some areas at tropical-storm speeds.

“The computer models have been advertising this storm for quite a while,” said meteorologist Bart Hagemeyer.

For some Floridians, however, the weather was like an unannounced holiday guest who arrived just in time to disrupt dinner.

Carol Izzo, of DeLand, had just finished taking the Christmas turkey out of the oven when two trees toppled in her yard, hitting her neighbor’s home.

“I heard the wind and it was beating against the front windows and the door. It was like a hurricane,” Izzo said. “This has never happened before.... We are lucky the house is fine. We all have our lives.”

Shelters were opened for residents without power, as well as for residents from the damaged mobile-home parks.

The storm also knocked down trees in Lake County and snapped branches that littered the roadways like tossed Christmas wrappings.

In Leesburg, about a dozen homes and mobile homes were damaged, said Lake County sheriff’s spokeswoman Sgt. Christie Mysinger.

At least three homes were destroyed elsewhere in Florida -- two in Columbia County and one in Pasco -- and dozens more were damaged. Several people were hospitalized with minor injuries in those incidents.

“It’s amazing we don’t have serious injuries or deaths,” Columbia County sheriff’s spokeswoman Laurie Windham said. “We are incredibly blessed today.”