Last Monday, six to 10 tornadoes ripped through central Florida. Winds hit 260 miles an hour and swept up everything in their path: cars, homes, pets. At least 39 people died. More than 250 were hurt.
The twisters turned entire neighborhoods into heaps of bent metal and broken glass. About 1,700 buildings were damaged or destroyed. It was the worst tornado attack ever to hit Florida.
The twisters just missed Disney World and other top tourist attractions in Orlando. But they hit a stadium where the Houston Astros baseball team holds spring training. "I've been in and around tornadoes before," said pitcher Chris Holt. "But I've never seen anything like this."
One of the luckiest survivors was Jonathan Waldick. Whipping winds yanked the 18-month-old toddler out of his crib. Then, amazingly, the twister placed him gently among the branches of a fallen tree.
El Niño Strikes Again
Tornadoes form during thunderstorms, when winds suddenly speed up and change direction. This can set the air spinning along the ground. Twisters become visible as they pick up dust and debris.
In 1948, forecasters predicted a tornado for the first time. Now they know that twisters often hit the southern U.S. from February through April. But the climate-pattern shift called El Niño pushed last week's winds farther south than usual.
El Niño-related storms also hit California hard last week. Heavy rain caused floods and mudslides, which smashed through homes and tore out bridges. At least nine residents died.
What A Mess!
President Clinton visited Florida last week and promised to help rebuild the damaged areas "brick by brick, home by home, street by street."
Rebuilding seemed like a tough task for elderly people who had come to spend their last years in the Florida sunshine. The Reverend Joseph Ridgely, 70, was resting in an armchair last Monday when a tornado tossed him across the street. He survived, but his family ended up digging through a heap of shredded wood that had once been his home.
Said his son, Richard Ridgely: "We're trying to find 70 years' worth of memories in this pile."