Fl. City/Homestead Damage...

[TheShrimper]

Just returned from South Dade, and from what I could see is that there were many tornados in the area aboved mentioned. Areas along Krome Ave, seemed to have escaped unscathed, where others were devistated. On Quail Roost, the power poles were sheared off halfway up, from Farmlife School Rd almost to US 1. Costa Nursery, the provider of all the annuals sold in Home Depot and Lowes Stores was hit hard. The hundreds of acres of greenhouses that used to stand, stand no more. Avacado groves, here and there, displayed Andrew like devistation....while others were fine...definately a result of tornadic activity or microbursts. The bartender at the Last Chance Saloon, who lives on Palm east of 1, said there were many tornados in the area of her residence, which suffered severe damage. That stands to reason, seeing that officials declared that tornados hit the speedway. The campgrounds are getting filled up with people who have lost electric, and by those who are ambitious on capitalizing on Wilma repairs. This does not bode well for race week, as there will be no sites available. Hope you all made nreservations, though this will not guarantee your spot either. Power to a large area will be reinstated Nov. 9, while others not till the 22nd. Anything that can be updated by the locals would be appreciated. Race week starts in 2 weeks. Thanks. The Shrimper.

[Canelaw99]

Tornadoes hit Palm east of US1??? I live between Palm and Canal, east of US1 and know nothing of a tornado. Also, hadn't heard that about a tornado hitting the Speedway. I have seen some pics in the South Dade News Leader about the Speedway, but they haven't covered it much on the local news. Keep me posted Shrimper

[TheShrimper]

Heather, according to the president of the track Mr. Gray, the damage was inflicted by tornado's at the track. He claims to have been there at the time they hit. That is accorging to HMS website and other race related sites. The bartender at the LCS, who says she lives off Palm, east of 1 confirmed what the director of the speedway said. Where exactly she lives, I do not know. She is the heavy set one that has been there for years working behind the bar. She was there in 92, so I trust what she says regarding storms. From what I saw, I would concur that there were alot of tornados and also microbursts. Overall damage I witnessed was consistant with a Cat 1 or 2 storm, but there were areas off off Silver Palm and Hainlan Mills, where avacado groves were flattened. Other areas of the same vegitation showed minimal damage. Again, I did not go everywhere. There were some nurseies I used as refernce point while traveling down Krome, that dissappeared, I did not know where I was for quarter mile stretches of road. I did witness the photos you posted of damage south of Palm on US 1. I did not get any further east on Palm than Southern Comfort RV Resort. I would guess the further north on 1 you went, the worst the damage knowing the storm's particulars. I did hear that the power would be off for Quite awhile on Palm the further west you went, down towards Robert is Here. These are the people who are flocking to the campgrounds that are operational, untill they get utilities back in order. This is the worst time a storm could have hit, both here with the snowbirds already settling in, and also over there for the same and many other reasons. You too, let me know what is going on, if you hear anything. TheShrimper.

[Canelaw99]

Wow! Weird to think of the possibility of tornadoes that close to us without knowing about it. Not a good thing at all. Luckily more and more power is coming on down here, although we've had a couple of nights were it keeps going off and on all night. For the most part, I think, life is fairly well back to normal in this area...well, at least the area of Hstd. I get to often - between Krome and Kingman, south of 304th...

How'd the hunt for the camping turn out? Hopefully you guys were able to find something.