Ground Hog day tornado Deland Florida

On Christmas day the tornado that swept through Deland did so with much notice on my part. The F2 that wiped out several homes north of Deland would have seen like nothing more than a healthy thunderstorm were it not for my parents calling me immediately afterwards excitily explaining how they drove right through the tornado accidentally. The groundhog day storm was different.

A few minutes before 4 am I was awaken from my sleep confused as to why people were throwing rocks at my house. In that twilight period between dream and real world I was sure that the neighbors were up to mischief pelting my roof and windows with pebbles. Very quickly, what I was hearing became clear. Accompanied by strong winds and flashes of light, I realized I was listening to hail hitting my home. I was able to get outside in time to hear a huge explosion and then it became fairly calm.

The light of day revealed that this tornado was far more damaging and deadly than the Christmas day tornado. My sister, who lives in a mobile home near the impact area, describes a frightful scene during the storm of her hunkering down in her bath tub with her son and a mattress draped over them. The warning for her was the sound of her car alarm going off just prior to 4 am. Fortunately the storm left her park without producing the devastation it left in it's path.

The end result of Deland's latest encounter with a tornado is far better than our neighbors to the west. At this time I am unaware of any deaths as a result of this freakish storm. The area hit the hardest is on the south side of Deland near our Watson Realty Deland branch office. According to the manager of this branch, the office was closed on Friday but the building did not appear to receive any significent damage. A large building that employees over 400 Volusia County workers, a sheriff sub station, an insurance office, the local Dunkin doughnuts, the Dollar General Store and the Volusia County Health Department building were all damaged to some extent by the storm. The damage is still being assessed.

We are saddened over the loss of life this storm produced and thankful that our family, friends and the Deland community did not experience personal loss of the magnitude experienced in Lake County. I will be posting pictures of the areas hit in Deland once I am able to get into that area.

Here is the path the storm took.

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- Greg Staker Watson Realty Corp. 407-304-0255