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Scary Home Video: Tornado Touches Down In South Los Angeles
This morning a small tornado tore through South Los Angeles. One resident managed to catch the twister in action (while cursing up a storm, so to speak).
The tornado touched down from the intersection of Gage and Vermont to Figueroa and 57th Streets in the Vermont-Slauson area around 9 a.m. this morning, according to KTLA. The National Weather Service confirmed that the high winds were a "small EF0 tornado," the weakest type that can have wind speeds of up to 85 mph. National Weather Service meteorologist Eric Boldt told the Los Angeles Times, "The damage was sporadic. That’s typical of a tornado."
It tore the roof off an apartment building, crashing into a street below. Five homes were damaged, the Times says. One day care in the path had its sign destroyed and its windows blown out, though none of the children were injured since they were kept away from the windows.
Garr Learning Center owner Gerae Vernon told KTLA, "We saw the winds twirl up in the air 20 to 30 feet high. It took trees, anything that was in its way. It was trees, debris, wood, trash cans — it was all being whirled up in the wind by this tornado."
Jamie Mena captured the video below (if you're reading this Jamie, hit us up with the uncensored version):
The Times reports that there was also a waterspout spotted off the coast of Crystal Cove in Newport Beach, which was likely a part of the same storm cell that touched down in South Los Angeles. Waterspouts are more common during winter storms, but every once in awhile a landspout—or a tornado—does make it to shore.
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