NASSAU COUNTY, Fla. – The National Weather Service is going to determine if a tornado is what swept through two Nassau County neighborhoods on Old Nassauville Road.
Multiple homes in one neighborhood sustained damage from Sunday’s strong winds.
About six homes in the Sandy Pointe Preserve subdivision in Fernandina Beach had damage to either the fence, the roof, or the screened-in pool covering on Sunday morning.
Across the street in the Creekstone subdivision, one of the homes has a damaged fence.
As Dan Beckwith starts picking up his now blown-down fence, workers are busy on his roof covering up a recent hole caused by the storms.
“I grew up in Kansas so I know when the wind starts blowing real bad, you need to move so I told the kids the wind is starting to pick up. We got everyone in the closet,” he said.
The owner of another home said he heard howling noise around 9:30 p.m. on Sunday night. He said the windows were shaking and it sounded like a train but it didn’t last long.
“We’ve been in Florida for 12 years and never had any kind of damage like this even with the hurricanes,” Beckwith said.
A severe thunderstorm warning was issued in the area around 9 p.m.
Beckwith said he’s glad nothing more severe happened to his home or his neighbors. But he said now he’s worried about his insurance company fixing all of his damages.
“Our insurance company is one of the companies that’s leaving Florida. So that did cause me some initial concern. And then also the company that is actually handling the claim is the company buying out our company. Obviously, I’m concerned with how that works,” Beckwith said.
There were also reports of downed trees and power outages in Southeast Georiga.
News4JAX received photos that showed a roof after it had been blown off a gas station in Manor, just southwest of Waycross. There were no reports of a tornado, but there were strong storms reported in the area.