Tornado winds up to 90 mph slash nearly 6 miles in Palm Beach County

Jan. 23--A tornado descending from the darkness ripped a ragged alley of destruction in northern Palm Beach County, investigators confirmed in Monday's light, closing two schools, slashing power to thousands and sending residents scrambling for safety from rough weather that proved deadly across the Southeast U.S.

Peak winds up to 90 mph tore through Palm Beach Gardens and Juno Beach along a path nearly six miles long and up to 130 yards wide, National Weather Service survey crews found.

In the Mirabella community in Palm Beach Gardens, residents reported windows blown out and walls buckling but miraculously, no reports of serious injuries.

As an eerie light, water and debris flooded in through a smashed window, Connie Aliaga's husband said in those terrifying moments before 2 a.m.: "We're going to heaven."

The sound of high winds woke Richie Nestro of Jupiter. He and his wife huddled in an interior closet of their Indian Creek home.

"I've been down here for hurricanes but when you hear tornado warning you're thinking roofs coming off,'' he said. "When that emergency alert came on -- take shelter now -- that was scary."

The tornado touched down about 1:39 a.m. in the Palm Beach Gardens area just west of Florida's Turnpike, a National Weather Service report said.

It took a path to the east and northeast, causing damage in multiple locations in Palm Beach Gardens and Juno Beach, officials said. The path ended around Juno Beach Park at about 1:47 a.m.

"During the time it was on the ground, the damage indicated that the tornado varied in strength between an EF-0 and an EF-1, with some of the worst damage from the Mirabella community to the Benjamin School, " the report said, referring to categories of tornado strength.

A tornado with winds up to 85 mph rates a EF-0 on the Enhanced Fujita scale, with an EF-1 ranging from 86 mph to 110 mph.

No serious injuries were reported in Palm Beach County, but it joined at least 50 sites in Southeastern states where twisters touched down over the weekend.

At least 20 deaths have been blamed on waves of tornadoes and thunderstorms, including seven killed at a demolished mobile home park in Adel, Ga.

In Palm Beach County, battering winds are expected to give way to sunny and breezy weather Tuesday, with highs near 76.

Cooler air is on the way. Overnight lows are expected to dip into the mid-50s by the weekend.

High winds blasted through a Juno Beach mobile home park along U.S. 1, sending front stoops flying and snapping poles. The park has been without power since 1 a.m., residents said. The Juno Beach pier was closed Monday.

Survey crews investigated evidence of winds they estimated at up to 90 mph in Palm Beach Gardens. They found trees snapped off at the trunk near Mirabella, and others uprooted entirely near Donald Ross Road.

W.T. Dwyer High School in Palm Beach Gardens was closed Monday due to damage. Fences were bent and sports equipment scattered. Staff and students were being urged to stay home and not come to inspect damage. Buildings on campus also sustained damage.The baseball field suffered severe damage, including torn fences.

The Benjamin School's upper school on Grandiflora Road in Palm Beach Gardens was also closed, though its main offices and lower and middle school on Ellison Wilson Road remained open, the school reported on Twitter.

Benjamin School officials said several trees were down, fences were damaged or down and bleachers were "destroyed," winding up in the middle of Central Boulevard.

The school's athletic director, Ryan Smith, said the fields suffered significant damage, and the storm also tore down a scoreboard at the football field, snapping the concrete pillars that held it up.

By around 2 a.m. Monday, more than 14,000 Florida Power & Light Co. customers in Palm Beach County were without power.

The number of outages fluctuated during the day as FPL employees and contractors worked to restore power.

By 5:30 p.m., 1,709 FPL customers in the county were left without electricity. The utility serves 737,916 business and residential customers in Palm Beach County.

In the Donald Ross Road area, nine non-hardened power poles were replaced. FPL spokesman Bill Orlove said the county was under a wind advisory for much of the day, slowing work until winds were below 35 mph.

The 7 a.m. and 9 a.m. Delta flights out of Palm Beach International Airport to Atlanta were canceled, according to the airport's website, with others delayed.

Insurance companies started to respond to damage across several states.

"Company adjustors are now in the field helping homeowners and renters begin rebuilding in the impacted areas," said Logan McFaddin, the Florida-based regional manager of government relations for the The Property Casualty Insurers Association of America.

Those who have not already done so should reach out to begin the claims process, she said.

Advice from her organization: Secure property from further damage or theft. Contact your insurance agent or company representative as soon as possible. Inventory losses and photograph damage to provide to your insurance adjustor. Save receipts.

"Our thoughts are with those who have been impacted from these severe storms," McFaddin said.

Staff writers Joe Capozzi, Sonja Isger Julius Whigham II, Susan Salisbury, Sarah Peters

and Bill D

iPaolo contributed to this report.

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