Two full days later, the shock is gone. Hundreds of Palm Beach County storm victims are busy assessing the damage and starting the rebuilding process after an F3-level tornado rampaged through Wellington, the Loxahatchee area, and Palm Beach Gardens.
A brand-new Publix store in that city’s Avenir development, slated to open in three weeks, took a direct hit from the tornado. It ripped a huge hole in the roof and even damaged the foundation. It’s a total loss, and Palm Beach Gardens city officials told us that the building must be demolished and then rebuilt from scratch.
“You know, you just don’t think it will happen to you, and not here, we don’t really have these kinds of tornadoes,” said Melody Russell.
Her house was sidewiped by the twister. Her neighborhood looks like a war zone, with big trees snapped in two and vehicles tossed around like toy cars.
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“The power went out and it was just like you see in the movies, like the whole house was shaking and I was screaming so I don’t remember the sound, but my family says it was very loud, like a train, and then you could tell that it passed over us because everything just stopped,” Russell said.
The level of damage in the tornado’s path is not something anyone here expected, because they were not inside the hurricane cone.
Raj Belanger is a firefighter with Hialeah Fire-Rescue, a first responder who came home from work to something he would normally see while he’s on the job. His own roof was damaged, windows were blown out and cars were totaled. The tornado went over his house.
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“I don’t believe we were even under a hurricane watch or warning, I think we were in tropical storm watch or warning, but yeah, tornadoes, you hear about ‘em all the time on the TV and you hope that you’re not effected but when they do hit they beat you up pretty good,” Belanger said.
His house has a leaking roof, no electricity and no water. I asked Belanger if it was an emotional situation.
“Yeah, when I got home, my wife called me that evening, when I rolled up Wednesday evening, it’s just that shock people talk about, you can’t soak it all in immediately,” he said.
Now, like everyone else who was in the path of the tornado, Belanger is in recovery mode. It’s tough physically, emotionally, and it’s expensive to get back up when you get punched so hard.
