South Los Angeles residents on Saturday were surveying the damage left behind after a rare tornado ripped through a 10-block span of the area amid a powerful storm that hit Southern California the day before.
The National Weather Service confirmed that a “small EF0 tornado” with wind speeds between 65 and 85 mph had touched down near the intersection of Gage and Vermont avenues (map) in the Vermont-Slauson area around 9:20 a.m.
The tornado “hopscotched” over a 10-block span, ending in the area of 57th and Figueroa streets, leaving at least five homes and several vehicles damaged, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Residents reported that the destructive tornado lifted the roof off an apartment building and damaged a day care center.
“I watched as it took my roof and it just, it sent the roof of our building just over to the next street,” said Chris McCall. “It picked the roof up like it was a piece of paper.”
A steel billboard and trees also sustained damages, according to the weather service.
No injuries were reported.
The tornado was captured on dramatic video by Jamie Mena, who shot the footage from a second-story balcony.
“Oh sh–!” he yelled as the video showed roof shingles and debris swirling violently in the air over homes before crashing down on top of them.
Mena described what was going through his head as he saw the funnel cloud tear through an area directly in front of him.
“’What is going on?’ That’s what was through my mind. I mean, am I in a hurricane or something, or in a tornado?” he told KTLA. “But then I looked up, it was a tornado.”
Mena added that although the sighting didn’t scare him, he was unnerved by it.
The tornado wasn’t the only unusual weather-related occurrence in the area Friday — a waterspout was also caught on video off the coast of Newport Beach.
National Weather Service meteorologist Eric Boldt told the Times that the waterspout and tornado were likely part of “the same band of storm cells.”
While waterspourts are more likely to appear in winter storms in the area, tornadoes can too, according to Boldt.
“It’s not a common thing,” he told the Times .”But they can occur.”
The weather service had warned in its Friday forecast that the powerful storm making its way through Southern California had the capability of producing small tornadoes and waterspouts.
KTLA’s Melissa Pamer contributed to this report.
