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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
National
Maroosha Muzaffar

Florida couple share video driving into tornado as hundreds displaced from homes

@jrmozer5 via REUTERS

A shocking video shared by a Florida couple shows them driving, inadvertently, right into the middle of a tornado and surviving to tell the tale.

Even as several tornadoes continued to batter Florida leaving hundreds of people homeless and destroying homes, a couple from Florida uploaded a video on their social media after they drove down the road in Fort Myers, believing that the tornado was miles away.

Regina and Ernest Kazar recounted the horrifying episode to the Weather Channel. Ms Kazar said: “A lot of stuff hitting the truck. A lot of wind. We put our heads down, because we didn’t want nothing coming through impaling us through the window. It was just surreal.”

In the video, the woman could be heard saying: “We need to pull over. We’re right in the middle of it.”

As the couple spoke, the camera shook vigorously and the husband shouted, “Hold on!”

The couple was driving with their two dogs. And several commentators online said they were glad the dogs were ok.

Many others in Florida shared videos of the tornadoes in the state.

The tornadoes were generated by the same storm Izzy that brought freezing rain and snow to other parts of the country on the Eastern coast.

About 15,000 Floridians are without electricity right now, reports said.

“A waterspout moved across Gasparilla sound near Boca Grande Causeway before then moved ashore as a short-lived tornado near Placida damaging at least 35 homes and a marina storage facility,” the National Weather Service said in a bulletin.

Cecil Pendergrass, the co-chairman of the Lee County board of commissioners, said at least 62 homes were currently “unliveable.”

WBBH-TV reported that the tornado destroyed homes and left a trail of destruction in Lee County.

“We’ve definitely had some injuries,” an official said.

Four people sustained injuries and are in stable condition.

“The safety and security of the residents is going to be number one,” said Sheriff Carmine Marceno from the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.

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