Lakeland, Florida – An EF-0 tornado is believed to have touched down near Lakeland Linder International Airport and then followed a path across Interstate 4 going North into the Kathleen area.
Photos posted on Facebook, by Andrea Anderson show campers toppled over, debris in the roadway around Duff & Galloway Rd and the roof of Kathleen Middle School has damage.
An EF-0 tornado has wind speeds between 65-85 mph. The Polk County National Weather Service has Polk County under Tornado Watch until noon on Saturday.
Lakeland Electric message to customers: ” 10/19/2019 at 2AM: Late Friday night we experienced tornado damage in the western portion of our system. Currently, there are 9,461 customers without power in our service territory. Lakeland Electric crews are out restoring power as quickly and safely as possible. Line crews are facing multiple broken poles and wires down as they work to restore power.
You can stay informed with our outage map at www.lakelandelectric.com/outagemap and follow us for more updates.
Remember, do not go near fallen power lines or attempt to pull out debris from under or near fallen power lines – it is never safe to assume that a power line has no electricity. ”
We will update this article as more information is received.
