'Absolute devastation': Tornadoes, high winds deliver blow to Jackson, Bay counties

An especially potent winter storm system spawned violent tornadoes and ferocious straight line winds Tuesday, damaging homes and businesses and knocking out power for tens of thousands across the Florida Panhandle and Big Bend.

Photos and video from storm chasers showed heavy structural damage caused by a confirmed tornado in the Lower Grand Lagoon area south of Panama City. A reported tornado also ripped through the Marianna area, destroying and damaging homes in the Spring Chase neighborhood and wrecking the recently refurbished Florida Caverns RV Resort at Merritt’s Mill Pond.

“Where the tornadoes touched down, there is absolute devastation," said Matt Fuqua, a Marianna attorney who shared photos of the storm damage. “By God’s grace, the storm lifted and spared many.”

Wright Dobbs, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Tallahassee, said there was one confirmed death in the Cottonwood, Alabama, area. There were no other immediate confirmations of deaths or injuries early Tuesday afternoon.

Dylan Bass, a spokesman for Jackson County, said that emergency response teams completed a thorough search for possible storm victims at the Florida Caverns RV resort.

“We want to clarify and confirm that, contrary to social media reports, there are NO reported fatalities,” he said in a news release. “Please rely only on official channels for accurate information.”

A squall line and intense storms ahead of it appeared to have dealt the heaviest blow to areas just west of Tallahassee. The storms shut down schools, courthouses and government offices across the area.

The storms did not greatly interfere with the opening day of the legislative session at the Florida Capitol. When a chorus of storm-related phone alerts went off at the Capitol, House Speaker Paul Renner paused his speech only briefly.

"Our business goes on, rain or shine,” Renner said before adding, “We’ll stand by for just a minute.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis, who delivered his state of the state address, declared a state of emergency for 49 counties across north and central Florida because of the tornado outbreak.

Dobbs said the storms produced numerous reports of tornadoes from the Panama City area through the inland Panhandle and into southeast Alabama, where baseball-sized hail fell.

“A powerful storm system moved through the area, and before the squall line brought widespread strong non-thunderstorm winds, which caused quite a few power outages and downed trees across the area,” Dobbs said. “We also saw a few tornadic storms ahead of that squall line ... and a few tornadoes along the squall line.”

In Jackson and Bay counties, reported tornadoes caused heavy damage to homes and businesses and toppled over at least one tractor-trailer on Interstate 10.

Erwin Jackson, a well-known Tallahassee businessman who owns the Florida Caverns RV resort, said he got a call around 6 a.m. that a tornado had done extensive damage to the property. Jackson purchased the former Arrowhead RV park in 2018, several days before Hurricane Michael hit, but later rebuilt. He said he’d just paid the last bill on renovations Monday.

"They tell me a tornado hit kind of the center of the park," he said. “We had 77 brand new cabins that we just bought six months ago. Two were completely demolished. There's several RVs that were turned upside down and smashed and blown away. The laundromat was destroyed, a couple of other buildings. It's bad."

Dramatic storm photos and videos were emerging from the Panama City area showing damage to homes and businesses. The Bay County Sheriff’s Office said an apartment complex across from Pirates Cove Marina was heavily damaged and warned of low-hanging power lines and other dangers. Officials urged people to stay off the roads.

“Some have taken to the roads to see the damage, and it is making it very difficult for first responders who are rushing to help people who may be trapped in damaged homes and injured," the Sheriff’s Office said in a Facebook post.

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In Tallahassee, the storm knocked out power to thousands of city customers. Shortly before noon, some 15,000 city of Tallahassee customers were without power. Talquin Electric, which serves portions of Leon, Liberty, Gadsden and Wakulla counties, reported more than 17,0000 customers lost power. City officials said line crews began power restoration efforts after the storm peaked. By 3 p.m., about 6,000 were still without power in Tallahassee.

There were scattered reports of downed trees and damage to homes in Leon County. Kevin Peters, director of Leon County Emergency Management, said that there had been about 100 calls about downed trees by the early afternoon but no “significant” traffic backups as a result.

“We have not seen an impact that compares to what was experienced in communities west of Tallahassee,” Peters said. “But certainly we were prepared for that. And we’re fortunate it was not severe in Tallahassee and Leon County.”

Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or 850-599-2180.

This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: 'Absolute devastation': Tornadoes, high winds deliver blow to North Florida