Florida severe weather: EF-0 tornado touches down in southern Pinellas County

TAMPA, Fla. - As Bay Area residents saw wind and heavy rain from a line of severe storms, a brief tornado touched down in southern Pinellas County Tuesday afternoon. 

The tornado touched down at about 4:20 p.m. near 6th Street South in St Petersburg, ripping off the roof of one apartment building and tearing down power lines. The EF-0 tornado lasted less than one minute and reached peak wind gusts of 82 miles per hour, the National Weather Service confirmed. 

Multiple Severe Thunderstorm Warnings and Tornado Warnings were issued through the afternoon and evening as the line moved through the Tampa Bay area. 

FOX 13 Chief Meteorologist Paul Dellegatto said winds at one point reached 63 miles per hour in Gulfport. It happened near a cell that prompted a tornado warning in the area. 

Areas of rotation offshore were also being monitored at one point Tuesday afternoon as storms approached the Bay Area's coast. St. Petersburg at one point saw wind gusts of 52 miles per hour, according to Dellegatto. 

Severe damage was seen all around South Pinellas County, including in a neighborhood in Gulfport, where many residents believe another tornado could have come through, although it has not been confirmed. 

"I believe it totally was a tornado, for the way it sounds and all of a sudden, the darkness and the hail… those are evidence of a tornado," said Cindy Organtini, a Gulfport resident. "It looks like it traveled along the street taking out branches and trees. This was a sudden, isolated disruption, severe and sudden." 

In her neighborhood, a tree cracked in half, smashing a car beneath it. There were other downed trees on houses down the street. Luckily, no one was injured. 

"This no-name storm is more damage than we’ve seen with any hurricane. I heard it really loud. We were reading on the couch, and I jumped up to the window and everything was flying around. I saw the tree come down [on our house], and backed up from the window and knew it was quite serious," said one mother in the neighborhood.

FOX 13 also spoke to one woman who hid in her bathroom as the storm flew through. She said she heard a loud "bang!" It was her back shed being thrown across her yard and into her back fence. 

"It was a big bang, a real big bang, and I saw everything just flying," said Lujean Jones. "I was real scared, real scared! I went to the bathroom for safety and tried to get on the phone to call my son to let him know what was going on."

Many neighborhoods in Pinellas County are still worried about flooding into Tuesday night.