EUSTIS, Fla. (ABP) — Tornadoes that ripped across Central Florida in the early morning hours of Feb. 2 killed at least 19 people and destroyed housing developments, churches and businesses in four counties.
A tornado that touched down at 3:30 a.m. caused severe damage at the Lake Yale Baptist Conference Center. Located in Lake County about an hour north of Orlando, the conference center is a retreat facility owned by the Florida Baptist Convention.
At least one church — Lady Lake Church of God — was demolished, although built to sustain 150-mph winds. The steel-reinforced church is used as a storm shelter but was not in use at the time. It is not yet known if any Baptist churches were damaged in the region.
Governor Charlie Crist has issued a state of emergency for four counties: Lake, Seminole, Sumter and Volusia. Search-and-rescue teams continued to ply through debris in search of survivors late in the day Feb. 2.
Severe damage along a 40-mile swath of the region suggested some of the tornadoes were as severe as Category 3 on the Fujita scale. Brick and block homes were destroyed in rural parts of Volusia County, where a demolished car stood upright, wrapped around a tree or pole.
Lauren Urtel, who works for the Florida Baptist Convention, drove to the Lake Yale Conference Center near Leesburg Feb. 2 to survey the damage.
“They lost the steeple off their chapel,” she said. “They also lost the roof off of their pump house, and they have a lot of downed trees and windows out.”
According to representatives from the Florida Baptist Convention, none of the 100 people staying at the center were injured. Four dorms had roof damage, according to center manager Don Sawyer. Doors, windows and power lines were ripped out as well.
Sawyer said disaster-relief volunteers from the convention are helping repair damage in nearby Lady Lake, where more than 500 people lost their homes.
Roughly 20,000 Progress Energy customers reportedly lost power because of the storm. And on Interstate 4, which traverses the middle of the state, four tractor-trailers were blown off the road.
Urtel said she saw a mobile-home park in Lady Lake that was “pretty much demolished.” One trailer frame there was wrapped completely around a tree, she said.
“One of the men on one of our [Florida Baptist disaster-relief] crews from the area actually lived in the trailer park, and he weathered the storm — he and his dog,” she said. “His brother came and pulled him out, and now he's there cutting down the fallen trees.”
First responders to the damage were volunteers from Baptist associations in Ocala and Leesburg, both towns close to the conference center. The crews — including volunteers from as far away as Louisiana — are using chainsaws to help clear debris in DeLand, Lady Lake and Lake Mack.
The Lake Yale Baptist Conference Center will serve as command center for the duration of the recovery. Members of First Baptist Church of Leesburg plan to serve meals for volunteers and people displaced by the storm.
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