LAWTEY, Fla. – The National Weather Service confirmed that storms spawned a tornado in Lawtey around 10 p.m. Tuesday. The Lawtey Elementary school cafeteria had roof damage and numerous trees and power lines were down.
The tornado in Lawtey was an EF-1 with estimated winds peaking at 85-95 miles per hour. The tornado was a maximum of 75 yards wide and was on the ground for one mile, according to the National Weather service. No injuries or fatalities were reported. EF-1 tornados have winds from 86 to 110 miles per hour.
The National Weather Service continues their assessment. They are moving to World Golf Village, another hard hit area. News4Jax will continue to update this story on-air and online.
The school closed Wednesday because of the damage stretching from the Georgia-Florida border all the way south to Gainesville. Clay and St. Johns counties appear to be hit hard.
According to Clay County Emergency Management, one person was injured, but it is unknown where in the county it occurred.
PHOTOS: Damage from Tuesday night's storms
Most neighborhoods had winds of 40 to 50 mph, but a few backyards were hit with gusts as strong as 60 mph -- knocking down trees, fences and signs.
One viewer even reported that trampolines were flying through the air like Frisbees in Julington Creek.
Many damage reports came out of Lawtey in Bradford County, including multiple downed trees and an old brick building on U.S. 301 that was left crumbled in the wake of the storms.
Several thousand JEA customers were without power about 11 p.m. in the Mandarin area of Jacksonville. Many residents said there were downed trees all over the area.
In Clay County, power outages were also reported. In that same area, the NWS said hail was seen on Black Creek and the tops of trees were toppled. The heaviest hit areas, according to Clay County Emergency Management was along Black Creek and Keystone Heights, in the Twin Lakes area. Several homes in the western portion of the county were without power. 25 homes also reported damage from the storm.
Many families in Middleburg were cleaning up on Wednsday. On Yucca Street, a shed flipped over.The roof of a mobile home was destroyed by high wind.
"I felt the rush of air come through the house," said Bennie Wilson, whose daughter Dallas was babysitting at a nearly home.
"My dad calls me and says, 'are you okay?' I said, yeah, why?' A tree fell on the house," Dallas Wilson said. "It was either strong winds or a tornado."
Wilson wasn't prepared for what she saw at he home she and her father have lived in for just one year.
"I was really loving the house, getting attached to it," Bennie Wilson said. "I'm just hoping we can get it
fixed to where I can continue to live here."
A few miles away on Yucca Street, the Price family is in clean up mode.
"The roof is tore up," said Taylor Price. "All the rafters and everything are broke."
The roof on this home was destroyed by strong winds. Five family members were inside when it happened.
The family's trampoline was moved from the front yard, to the back, and up into the tree. Parts of the roof are also in the backyard. It's still early in the cleanup, but both families we spoke with say.
"Oh I'm very thankful, we can replace the attic," said Price. "I can't replace my family."
In Mandarin, residents were shocked to see the damage: downed trees, signs knocked over, streets littered with debris.
"It looked like a disaster area," said Sheri Boulay.
JEA cleanup crews and neighbors spent Wednesday cleaning up this Mandarin neighborhood off Thoroughbred Boulevard where storms knocked down power lines.
"I've never seen anything like this. This is incredible," said Mandarin resident Lisa Bohannon. "Our whole fence is gone. Garbage cans everywhere. Trash everywhere."
In one backyard behind one Mandarin home, several trees snapped in half as well as these shingles that came off the roof. Other neighbors had a tree go through their house."
"We heard water coming into the house so we opened the door and saw the oak tree on the house," Boulay said. "It was pretty scary."
"All of the damage followed the direction of the storm, from the southwest to the northeast," said News4Jax meteorologist Richard Nunn. "The heaviest damage was along a line from Alachua County to parts of Union and Bradford Counties, through Clay County and the World Golf Village and Keystone Heights areas."
According to the NWS, there was also pea-sized hail that came down for about 10 minutes on the University of Florida campus in Gainesville.
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