BREVARD COUNTY, Fla. – The National Weather Service said a waterspout that briefly made landfall Monday causing minor damage at a mobile home park was a tornado.
“It could have been a very small, brief waterspout that moved onshore and then dissipated,” Peggy Glitto, a NWS meteorologist in Melbourne told News 6 partner Florida Today.
The funnel cloud that formed was likely a low-level, EF-0 tornado, Glitto said.
No injuries were reported.
The rough weather comes as weather officials monitor a growing tropical disturbance slowly forming in the Gulf of Mexico. The area of cloudiness, showers, and thunderstorms is swirling upward into Brevard County from the waters of western Cuba and the Gulf. The incident in Merritt Island took place after 10 a.m. Monday.
A resident who lives on South Lee Court in Merritt Island sent News 6 photos that show damages to his front porch.
Hector Hernandez said the the roof of his front porch was ripped off during the weather event and tossed over his house.
Officials with the National Weather Service said there was a weak rotation on the radar at 10:30 a.m. where the damage was reported. Weather officials said they think the event started as a weak waterspout over the water and was pushed on shore.
Heavy rains fell across portions of Brevard County, with 2 inches of rainfall reported at the Weather Service’s offices in Melbourne since Sunday night. Minor roadway water pooling was reported in parts of Melbourne, Palm Bay and Satellite Beach.
The National Hurricane Center gives the system a 40 percent chance of developing into at least a tropical depression over the next five days.
by J.D. Gallop, Florida Today, Emilee Speck – Digital journalist (2018, May 14) WKMG
