Aug 15, 2008 4:56 pm US/Eastern
People Dazed After Severe Storm Hits Hialeah
HIALEAH (CBS4) ―
-
-
A funnel cloud was snapped hovering over Hialeah as a line of severe thunderstorms moved through the area.
CBS4 Viewer Gaby Pinera/CBS
-
-
A fat bolt of lightning snaps from the sky as a line of severe thunderstorms rushed through Miami-Dade county
Nestor Yglesias/CBS
-
-
Businesses in Hialeah didn't escape Mother Nature's wrath during a severe thunderstorm that may have contained a tornado.
CBS
-
-
This is what the top of a business looked like after severe weather tore through Miami-Dade county.
CBS
Send Us Storm Pictures Or Video! At least four Hialeah apartment complexes sustained roof and window damage, and the American Red Cross was called out to help families from Thursday's severe weather system.
Widespread reports of damage poured in to police after severe thunderstorms hit Miami-Dade and Broward counties Thursday afternoon.
The Hialeah police reported a tornado touched down around 2:40p.m.
For Daniel Valient, who had to evacuate his home because of the damage, said on Friday to
CBS4 Reporter Jorge Estevez,
"Hopefully today the roof gets fixed and we get to sleep here in the house."
But storm it was anything but calm. "I got very nervous," said Lissette Suarez. "I was doing rosaries for the kids and I had to drop most of the stuff and run."
Suarez's mother will be staying with her after the apartment she lives in had the roof torn out by the tornado. In front of the building the wind threw a parked pick-up truck and turned it around, slamming it into the back part of two other parked cars in the area of West 24th Street and 1st Avenue.
It also tore off part of a roof from a warehouse located at West 27th St. and 1st Ave.
Police in Hialeah reported 2 cars were flipped over by high winds on Palm Avenue and 17th street.
The storm system knocked out power to more than 5,000 FPL customers in Central and Northern Miami-Dade County. FPL expected to have power turned back on to 90% of those customers by midnight. Officials say they are working around the clock to restore service.
A funnel cloud was captured by photographers, and video reportedly captured a tornado touchdown.
Otto Cruz-Alvarez, who lives in the area of West 22nd St. and 1st Ave., where damage was limited to a five-block area. He told
CBS4 Reporter David Sutta, "One gentleman said it sounded worse than Metrorail. Metrorail is nothing in comparison with the noise and the images that we saw. The whipping tail coming down and picking up cars throwing them around in the air and throwing them against each other."
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Hurricane Ike Hits Texas Coast
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Click to enlarge
Obama Heads To EU To Bolster U.S.-Russia Ties 11 mins ago 
Mass. Mom Accused Of Denying Son His Cancer Meds 32 mins ago 
Stumble It!
