Tornado Hits North Miami Beach

File photo: a tornado rips through downtown Miami in 1997.

Tornado Hits North Miami Beach

What appears to have been a tornado ripped through North Miami Beach a short while ago, lifting cars off the road, causing damage and wide-spread power outages. North Miami Beach is home to South Florida’s largest Orthodox-Jewish community, and its largest Lubavitch community as well.

From Yeshiva World News:

At around 7:45 Tuesday morning, tornado warnings were issued for the area, and at around 8:00AM the storm hit.

One eye-witness told YWN that his vehicle was lifted “at least 8-10 feet off the ground.”

There are light poles and power lines down all over the streets, and damage assessments are being done throughout the NE Miami-Dade area.

Many Shuls and local Yeshivas are among those without power.

The Miami-Dade Hatzalah hotline as well as the emergency radio system is in operation, should anyone need emergency assistance.

At 8:50, the National Weather Service tweeted that they were investigating a “possible tornado strike near the intersection of NE 191 Street and NE 15 Avenue in Miami-Dade”.

As of this posting, there have not been any reports of injuries.