ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -- From part of a roof blowing off a building in St. Augustine to reports of a waterspout in Jacksonville Beach, there was some wild weather in Northeast Florida on Tuesday.
The folks at St. Augustine Tire and Service had their workday interrupted because of the storms. Powerful winds blew part of the metal roof off the building.
"For the last two weeks, when we've had all the rainstorms in the afternoon, you get a bunch of hard winds but this is the first time it actually blew a roof off," says Bob Smith, who was working at the time of the destruction.
The National Weather Service estimates the winds were 60 mph. The building had three bay doors open at the time, which was a recipe for disaster.
"All that wind blew into the building and it is just like blowing up a balloon," says Al Sandrik with the National Weather Service. "The air came in and blew up the building. Just like a balloon is going to find some place to rip, so did the building and it happened to be the roof."
The wild weather continued in Jacksonville Beach, where several people reported seeing a waterspout after a strong burst of air swept through 13th Avenue North.
"I saw basically nothing but a sand and dust vortex coming right at me. I turned my back, hunkered down," says John Sorber, who was heading to work.
The strong winds knocked several trash containers to the ground. By the early evening hours, the cloudy, stormy skies were replaced with sunshine.
