Moderate
A line of severe weather coming in from the Gulf of Mexico this afternoon and into the evening is bringing significant rainfall (2 + inches) in a short period of time as well as significant straight-line winds of 70 mph. This weather is also capable of spawning tornadic activity which can destroy property and cause serious injury. In addition, isolated areas of the storm have been carrying hail up to 1 inch in diameter. Multiple tornadoes were spotted in Louisiana this afternoon as well as reports of damage to residential and commercial structures in the southern parishes within the state.
In Florida, Escambia County schools have ended their day early in preparation for the impending storm in order to keep students and faculty off the roads during unsafe weather conditions.
Severe Storm watches and Tornado Watches are currently in effect across portions of the panhandle of Florida. It is expected that additional areas of Florida will be added to the list as the storm moves east across the state. At this time all FMIT Members in Florida should be aware of this storm.
Due to the weather warnings indicating potential localized flooding and tornadic activity approaching, we will be setting our Alert to Level 3: Moderate.
FMIT Turnkey Recovery Manager, Taylor Matheny, is currently with our Operations Center team in Central Florida monitoring NWS and Local Storm Reports and the FMIT Loss Hotline for Activity. We have mobilized Ride Out teams across the state to respond immediately to Member needs.
