Storm that blew through Marion on Thursday considered a downburst, not a tornado
The strong storm that blew through Marion County on Thursday, downing trees and cutting out power to thousands of customers, was considered a downburst by local emergency management officials.
According to the National Weather Service, "Downbursts are powerful winds that descend from a thunderstorm and spread out quickly once they hit the ground. These winds can easily cause damage similar to that of a EF0 (65-85mph winds) or even EF1 (86-110mph winds) tornado, and are sometimes misinterpreted as tornadoes."
Social media was filled with reports of downed trees, damaged fences, downed power lines and other storm damage. Posters mentioned Ocala, Silver Springs Shores and Anthony as areas that were particularly hard hit.
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The storm struck about 4:30 p.m. Thursday. As of 10 p.m. Thursday, Ocala Electric Utility was reporting 6,300 customers affected while Duke Energy reported more than 1,000 customers affected, primarily in Silver Springs Shores and southeast Marion.
By 11 a.m. Friday, Ocala Electric reported just 243 customers affected and Duke had just a handful of outages. SECO and Clay Electric had resolved all outages. On social media, OEU said it received mutual aid assistance from other utilities.
The storm's effects were still being felt Friday.
The City of Ocala announced Friday morning that because of wind damage, the Heritage Nature Conservancy, 2005 NE Third St., will be closed for maintenance.
County government warned that, because of an expected rush of debris dropoffs, the Baseline Landfill (5601 SE 66th St., Ocala) may experience service delays Friday and through the weekend. It also noted that the landfill was experiencing periodic power outages Friday morning.
In a Facebook post, county government noted that its road crews handled 67 calls for service on Thursday and were back at it Friday.
"If you have a tree down in the right-of-way or blocking a roadway in Marion County, please report it to the Office of the County Engineer's Office at 352-671-8686," the post says.
'My mom heard the lightning strike'
A downed tree clipped the carport at Buddy Martin’s home in the 1500 block of Southeast 22nd Avenue in Ocala. Martin is a former sports editor of the Star-Banner.
The storm swept through that part of town about 4:30 p.m. Thursday. “I had their tree trimmed about two years ago. It looks like this one was rotten in the middle,” the Martins’ daughter, Lori Martin Gregory, said. “My mom heard the lightning strike.”
'I was definitely scared'
Patricia Barrientos lives in Silver Springs Shores. She was at home with family when the storm blew through just before 4:45 p.m.
"It just seemed like (a) big gust of wind, where it looked like a tornado almost formed," she said. She described branches being blown off trees.
"I was definitely scared," Barrientos said, "and our lights kept on flickering." She opened the sliding door to the back yard, and "the wind threw me off balance. That's how strong it was."
Her dogs also got scared. She has two pitbulls (Cookie and Kratos) and a Shar-Pei named Ryuu.
"They were hiding by the couch and laying on the ground," Barrientos said.
Also in the Shores, two large oaks were toppled along Maricamp Road near Oak Road and a billboard was blown down.
Agencies react to the storm
In a Facebook post shortly after the storm hit, Ocala Fire Rescue reported possible traffic delays at Northeast 10th Street and Northeast 28th Avenue, Northeast 19th Avenue and Northeast 17th Place, Southeast 17th Street, Southeast 37th Court Circle, Northeast 25th Avenue and Jacksonville Road, and Fort King Street.
Meanwhile, the Marion County Sheriff's Office Facebook page warned drivers to be on the lookout for out-of-service traffic lights and railroad crossing lights.
Star-Banner photographer Doug Engle, managing editor Jim Ross, staff writer Austin L. Miller and correspondent Andy Fillmore compiled this report.
This article originally appeared on Ocala Star-Banner: Ocala weather: Storm in Marion County uproots trees, cuts power
