ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — It was originally reported that two tornadoes touched down between Oct. 11-12 in the Tampa Bay region. However, new data shows there were actually six.
The National Weather Service reported the new findings on X, formally Twitter, Tuesday afternoon. The new evidence showed that in addition to tornadoes in the Clearwater and Crystal River areas, there were also tornadoes in Sarasota, Oldsmar, Trinity and Belleair.
All of the new tornadoes were ranked EF-0 with wind speeds reaching 65-85 mph, while the tornadoes in the Clearwater and Crystal River areas were ranked EF-2 with wind speeds between 11.-135 mph.
The tornado that moved through Clearwater Beach and Dunedin flipped cars, broke windows and twisted light poles. Strong winds even blew a port-a-potty on top of a pole.
"There was debris everywhere. Found our window had been blown out. Glass everywhere. This was all chaos. You couldn’t really walk through the parking lot because of all the debris," said Cindy Haynes, the manager of The Gym in the Causeway Plaza.
Significant damage was left behind in Crystal River, too, only weeks after Hurricane Idalia slammed into the area.
The Citrus County sheriff said the tornado caused broken windows, damaged cars, downed power lines and left around 2,000 people without power.