TAMPA, Fla. — A sudden microburst from a strong thunderstorm is believed to be the culprit of some isolated damage Wednesday afternoon in Ybor City.
Cleanup from the storm continued the following morning, with city crews seen in the area of North 22nd Street and East 10th Avenue helping move downed branches, toppled recycling bins and ripped-off roofing.
The National Weather Service reported several trees down and a sign blown out just before 5 p.m. Wednesday. That coincided with an interesting feature on radar, suggesting a sudden burst of damaging winds — a microburst, in particular.
It's a localized column of sinking air (a downdraft) in a thunderstorm, according to the weather service. Damage in an area typically is very isolated because a microburst is less than or equal to just 2.5 miles in diameter.
The storms damaged the roof of Charles Carpenter's home, which led to flooding inside and damage on parts of his ceiling.
Carpenter said his adrenaline kicked in at the moment. He and his partner used whatever tools available to dispose water out of their home, but the storms were too powerful.
"When everything kind of settled down and that's when it kind of hit. What do we do?" he said.
Carpenter said he is in the process of getting help from his home insurance to repair the damages.
Metal sheets from Carpenter's roof flew onto Andrew Stoecker's property next door. Stoecker recalled a transformer exploding as the most terrifying part of the storm.
"It sounds almost like a freight train when it's coming through," he said. "It's truly frightening."
Frederick Copeland said he thought a tornado had gone through at first. He recalled flashing lights and banging noises.
"You could not see anything. It was raining that hard," Copeland said.
Copeland said he hid in the bathroom with his girlfriend during the height of the storm for nearly an hour. He would later discover part of a tree had fallen in his backyard.
Neighbors said it's been relieving to help one another through the aftermath of the storm.
"This a nice sense of community we've got here. Everyone's kind of banded together to help out," Stoecker said.
The strong winds can reach in excess of 100 mph, causing damage to anything in their path. Considering the tropics, the 100-mph equivalent is a Category 2 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale.
