ST JOHNS, Fla. — The morning after a tornado touched down in St Johns County’s Bartram Park area, landscaping crews and homeowners got to work removing trees from rooftops and cut branches that were left across roadways.
A huge tree was left blocking a driveway in a Bartram Park subdivision after a tornado came through, uprooting it completely from the ground and just feet down the road a pile of branches is what’s left of a tree that fell across the roadway.
“Just trying to do some homeowner clean up myself," said homeowner Teresa Miller.
The morning after the storm, homeowners in the neighborhood are waking up, and getting to work. Miller was home when a tornado touched down just outside her front door.
“Well I heard the big crack of thunder and then this wall of water," Miller said. “Surprised and shocked on the storm strength I guess, and yes the damage here for sure."
Meteorologists with the National Weather Service determined a level EF-0 tornado, with winds of up to 75 miles per hour swept through the neighborhood. And it may not be the last tornado of the season.
“We have a higher frequency of severe and tuner tornadic weather. So my main message to the viewers is have multiple ways to get a warning," National Weather Service Jacksonville's Scott Cordero said.
Attorneys with Farah & Farah warn that homeowners have just a year to submit property insurance claims after new Florida laws went into effect.
"Go through look for leaks, look for damage. And if you find anything document it, take photographs," Khalil Farah, an attorney with Farah & Farah said. "If there is damage documented and if you do need an attorney, get that involved quickly because you only have a year.”
As crews trucked off whole trees from Bartram Park Boulevard, Miller was securing her property in anticipation of future storms.
“Almost done, I just need to finish the side of my townhouse, I got two bird feeders back there so they’re been helping themselves this morning," Miller said.
If there is a tornado warning the safest place in your home is the most interior room on the lowest floor.