Authorities have identified the six people killed when a tornado brought in by Hurricane Milton touched down in the Spanish Lakes mobile home community in St. Lucie County.
Sheriff Keith Pearson said the six victims of the twister on Oct. 9 were:
- William Cutlip
- Mary Grace Viramontez
- Alejandro Alonso
- Roger Ammon
- Sandra MacDonald
- Debra Kennedy
"It is with a very heavy heart that I inform you of the tragic passing of the following St. Lucie County residents who lost their lives as a direct result of the tornado that touched down in Spanish Lakes," Pearson said in a statement. "I, along with the men and women of the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office, express our heartfelt condolences to their family and friends during this extremely difficult time."
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The sheriff says his team rescued 25 people from the neighborhood of largely older, manufactured homes.
NBC affiliate WPTV reporter Dave Bohman was at the news conference and asked the sheriff if crews are still looking for survivors.
“Wednesday night, and even Thursday was a search and rescue mission. Is it fair to call it a search and recovery?” he asked.
“I’m going to stay optimistic all the way through, but we know the reality of it is a lot of elderly people have medical conditions,” Pearson answered. “We’re going well beyond 48 hours. That means 48 hours with no medicine, 48 hours with no food.”
The sheriff said one of the challenges of the operation at Spanish Lakes is that his teams can’t get an accurate count of those who might be missing, as many residents are snowbirds and others may be renters.
