Tornadoes Hit Central Florida/At Least 38 Killed, 13 Reported Missing

[Korea Times, 02/25/98]

KISSIMMEE, Florida (AP) - Florida's deadliest swarm of tornadoes on record plowed through the central part of the state at the height of tourist season, killing at least 38 people, including an 18-month-old toddler sucked from his father's arms. Thirteen were reported missing. Rescue workers used bloodhounds Monday to look for bodies in rubble-strewn neighborhoods.

``Debris is piled up so bad, it may take a while to find any survivors,'' said Doug Braswell, a spokesman for the Seminole County Public Safety Department.

A pickup truck ended up on its nose inside a wrecked living room and retirees lost nearly everything they had, but the six to 10 twisters missed Walt Disney World and the two other major theme parks in the Orlando area. Curfews were set for dusk in the hardest-hit areas. More than 250 people were injured, including a 16-year-old girl who was blown 150 feet (45 meters) out of a window into a pasture.

El Nino-fueled thunderstorms storms blew in off the Gulf of Mexico just before midnight Sunday, spitting out tornadoes from the Tampa Bay area on the Gulf to Daytona Beach on the Atlantic Coast. Georgia also was affected, with floods closing roads and schools Monday after as much as 5 inches (13 centimeters) of rain fell Sunday.

In this retirement haven for thousands from the Midwest and northeastern United States, Josie Wolfe searched for her medicine amid the scraps of wood, metal paneling and pink insulation that remained of her mobile home.

``It's all gone,'' cried Mrs. Wolfe, who moved from Dayton, Ohio, in 1983 with her husband, Ned. ``This was our whole life. I'm 73 years old and you can't start over at 73. What good is it? You work so hard and now there's nothing. I wish it would've killed me.'' She and her husband both escaped unharmed. She eventually found her medicine, along with her wallet containing dlrs 4 she won at Bingo earlier that night.

One man was holding his 18-month-old boy in his arms in his mobile home near Kissimmee, about 15 miles (25 kilometers) south of Orlando, when a tornado roared through before dawn. ``The baby was in the father's arms, and it got sucked out into the tornado,'' said Osceola County Fire Chief Jeff Hall. The child's body was found by late afternoon.

It was the deadliest round of tornadoes in Florida since the U.S. National Weather Service started keeping detailed records a half-century ago. And it was the state's most deadly day since Hurricane Andrew struck in 1992, killing at least 32 people in Florida, Louisiana and the Bahamas. Some of the tornadoes may have had wind speeds as high as 210 mph (338 kph).

President Bill Clinton sent representatives of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which granted disaster assistance to 14 counties.

Near Kissimmee, the Ponderosa Park tourist campground was unusually full because the annual Silver Spurs Rodeo had wrapped up Sunday and spring training for baseball's Houston Astros was just getting under way.

Eight people were killed in the park, including a man whose body was blown onto the Florida Turnpike.