PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Cleanup continued in Palm Beach Gardens Monday morning after an EF-2 tornado rocked the area over the weekend.
Tree removal service companies were out and about cutting hanging trees as residents cleared debris from around their cars.
Emma Hague, who lives nearby, said she did not expect that kind of extensive damage.
“It’s surreal,” she said. “You only see this in action movies. I’ve never seen this in real life.”
Resident Nikita Schlenewald described what happened during the twister, which struck at around 5 p.m. Saturday.
“Everything got really crazy and all the electricity started flickering and we booked it for the bathroom,” Schlenewald said. “But yeah, it happened really, really quickly.”
In the Sanctuary Cove community, dozens of units were uninhabitable.
Noon report:
Windows were shattered in homes and on cars left outside. A trail of roofing material littered the ground.
Large dumpsters were also tossed around and cars landed on top of one another after being tossed like toys. Some large trees even toppled over at their bases, landing on cars.
Some fences were also wrapped around trees.
“It was like a washing machine out here,” resident Juan Rodriguez said. “It was like, the trees, everything just spun up man.”
Video showed the 130 mph winds flipping a car as debris spiraled. The winds were so strong that they wiped out an international sculpture gallery. Crews used cranes to clear the damage left behind.
“All the trees are just knocked over. It’s just going to be totally different now,” Hague said.
Some residents said Monday that they remained without power.