A tornado touched down near the airport in Tallahassee, Florida, on Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021. It flipped at least one small plane and knocked out the weather radar. It then proceeded to move eastbound towards residential neighborhoods.
The city posted pictures of the Tallahassee International Airport on its Twitter page. In the images, one can see a flipped airplane and damages done to a hanger. Officials closed down the airport as they assessed the damages. According to the Tampa Bay Times, no one reported any injuries.
The city reported that hundreds of its residents were without power. The tornado is also cited for damaging the state Capitol’s Southwood community. There are several state offices located in that area. South of downtown there are scattered neighborhoods as well.
According to National Weather Service meteorologist Jasmine Montgomery, the weather service had an additional radar to monitor the storm. The meteorologist also stated that the radar at the airport was intermittently working during that time period.
People received alerts from the National Weather Service saying to “TAKE COVER NOW!” Within six minutes the 22nd floor of the Capitol was vacated. This area offers people a panoramic view of Tallahassee.
The House committee had to seek shelter from the tornado. They had to find an area away from windows and exterior walls. Democratic Representative Allision Tant said, “We were escorted to the bottom floor of the Knott Building and into hallways … we were well taken care of down there.”
On January 25, around 10:30 p.m. CT an EF-3 tornado tore through Birmingham, Alabama. According to the National Weather Service, the winds peaked around 150 mph. This tornado injured more than two dozen people and killed a 14-year-old boy.
According to the city’s mayor, a residential area in Center Point and Fultondale suffered the brunt of the tornado’s damage. Areal footage shows collapsed and destroyed homes. Other structures are seen with their roofs were torn off. One hotel was heavily damaged and partially collapsed.
Written by Sheena Robertson
Sources:
NBC News: Tornado that hit Alabama town, killing 1, was an EF-3 with 150 mph winds; by Phil Helsel
Tallahassee Democrat: Tallahassee tornado: City ‘dodged a bullet’ as storm flips plane at airport, causes outages; by Jeff Burlew and Karl Etters
Tampa Bay Times: Tornado touches down in Tallahassee, damaging airport and knocking out power
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