Tornado Turns Over Planes, Rips Off Hangar Doors at Ocala Airport, Fla.

April 8, 2005
Winds ripping through central Florida on Thursday flipped planes and trucks, damaged buildings, snarled traffic and left a trail of downed trees and blackouts.

Winds ripping through central Florida on Thursday flipped planes and trucks, damaged buildings, snarled traffic and left a trail of downed trees and blackouts.

Marion County officials reported that the storm had damaged at least 20 homes, some severely, and left more than 6,000 customers without power. At least four people, including a pregnant teen riding a school bus, were injured, officials said.

Mary Krulikowski said she was in her van picking up her son from an Ocala high school when the storm ''came out of nowhere.''

''The sky darkened, tree limbs started hitting my van,'' she told the Ocala Star-Banner.

The Marion County Sheriff's Office said a tornado turned over planes and tore off hangar doors at Ocala International Airport. A National Weather Service spokesman said officials were investigating whether a tornado had touched down.

Earlier, rains flooded already saturated parts of the Panhandle.

A 100-foot section of Pensacola's landmark red clay bluffs was washed away as 7 inches of rain fell over a 24-hour period that ended Thursday morning. Part of Scenic Highway, overlooking Escambia Bay atop the bluffs, will be closed for several weeks while repairs are made, police said.

Thunderstorms also caused scattered power outages.

In Gulf County, nearly 150 miles east of Pensacola, about 65 homes and hundreds of secondary homes have been flooded since last week and the water was expected to stay high for several more days, said county Emergency Management Director Larry Wells.