Four people were killed Wednesday in at least two confirmed tornadoes in St. Lucie County, Florida, an official said Thursday morning.
Erick Gill, a spokesperson for the county, said first responders are conducting "response and recovery efforts" after the twisters touched down starting at approximately 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, hours before Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida.
Sheriff Keith Pearson confirmed multiple people were killed at the Spanish Lakes Country Club, a senior community off Spanish Lakes Boulevard near Fort Pierce.
Gill said Spanish Lakes Country Club is one of seven locations that "suffered significant damage." The others are Portofino Shores, Holiday Pines, Lakewood Park, South Florida Logistics Center 95, Sunnier Palms Park and Campground, and the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office garage.
Emergency officials are urging residents to stay off the roads and stay inside until it's safe to leave.
"Unnecessary traffic or bystanders will hinder response and recovery efforts," Gill said in a news release to Scripps News West Palm Beach.
"This is a weather event like none other," Sheriff Keith Pearson said on Wednesday night, adding that somewhere between six and 12 tornadoes touched down in the county.
Video posted on St. Lucie County's official Facebook page Thursday morning showed what appeared to be a tornado ripping through a parking lot in the area of Orange Avenue and South Rock Road on Wednesday afternoon.
"While Hurricane Milton has left our area, St. Lucie County experienced significant damage from multiple tornados that impacted our area," the county posted on Facebook. "First responders and public works/utility crews are conducting recover efforts. Please stay off the roads and stay inside until it has been deemed safe to do so."
Gill said St. Lucie County has partnered with St. Lucie County Public Schools and the Florida Department of Health St. Lucie County to open an additional emergency shelter at Fort Pierce Central High School for residents displaced by the tornadoes.
St. Lucie County Commissioner Chris Dzadovsky sent the following message to WPTV News journalist Kate Hussey, urging residents to "stay home and off the roads":
"We first responders need to get out and assess what we have. This is DIFFERENT than any other hurricane even of the past the tornadoes have added a whole other facet to our response. Please let us do our job and keep any more fatalities injuries etc from this event. Please. 🙏🏽 We are going back to search for survivors and those who may have not made it through the deviated homes maybe still in the wreckage. Everyone needs to be reunited with family. No one left behind."
Dozens of agencies, including officers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, responded to the Spanish Lakes Country Club on Wednesday.
"Our number one goal is life safety," Pearson said. "We want to get to anybody who might be trapped underneath the rubble or trapped in these situations and get them out safely."
The sheriff said there were "well over 100 homes" throughout the county that have been lost due to the severe weather outbreak. Officials said the state has sent about 100 search and rescue members to the county to assist local agencies.
"We have dozens of homes in St. Lucie County that have been damaged. Some catastrophic damage," Gill said on Wednesday night. "We are working with the St. Lucie County Fire District, the National Guard, as well as units from the sheriff's office and even first responders from surrounding counties to help with search and rescue."
Gill said their goal was to get into the communities where multiple tornadoes have touched down to help survivors and do damage assessment.
Multiple tornadoes touched down across the Treasure Coast and Palm Beach County on Wednesday as Hurricane Milton closed in on the state.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said there were at least 116 tornado warnings with 19 confirmed touchdowns.
At least five of the seven reported tornadoes across Broward and Palm Beach counties, along with the Treasure Coast, have been confirmed through photographic or video evidence, the National Weather Service said.
Several confirmed tornadoes developed yesterday associated with Milton. Here's a very preliminary overview of the tracks of these tornadoes. pic.twitter.com/TBwo4x3R0k
— NWS Miami (@NWSMiami) October 10, 2024
NWS offices in Miami, Melbourne, and Tampa issued 98 tornado warnings on Wednesday afternoon, with the office in Miami issuing a record 55 of those warnings.
The NWS said it will conduct storm surveys over the coming days to determine how powerful these tornadoes were. As of Thursday morning, the NWS said "no preliminary EF-Scale ratings have been assigned" to these twisters.
Kevin Guthrie, the director of Florida's Division of Emergency Management, said they have multiple task forces headed to the affected areas. Guthrie said about 125 homes were destroyed statewide, mostly mobile homes in senior communities.
Milton made landfall in Florida near Siesta Key just after 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, but its wrath was felt across the Sunshine State for much of the day.
This story was originally published by Scott Sutton and Matt Papaycik at Scripps News West Palm Beach.
