ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – Dozens of homes were damaged on Thursday as a confirmed EF-1 tornado through Northwest St. Johns County.
One of the homes damaged in the band of storms was a farm on Joe Ashton Road not far from County Road 208 and Sixmile Creek that wasn’t in the path of the tornado.
MORE: Tornado leaves ‘path of destruction’ in St. Johns County subdivisions; 1 minor injury reported | Photos show tornado damage to several homes in St. Johns County | It started with a low rumble. Then a window shattered in her St. Johns County home as a tornado ripped through
Although no people were injured, the property owner said some of her farm animals suffered minor injuries but are expected to be OK.
Out of all the property damage News4JAX saw in two subdivisions six miles away, the 11-acre farm appears to be the worst.
Clean-up efforts were an all-day event Friday at the farm where Thursday’s storm uprooted trees, snapped trees in half, caused trees to fall and block pathways and caused trees and large tree limbs to fall onto structures that house farm animals. Diane Pecot is the property owner.
“It’s tremendous. The whole backside of my property was nothing, but shade and it’s gone. It snapped the trees like they were toothpicks,” owner Diane Pecot said.
Luckily, none of the trees fell onto the owner’s house, but they did fall in areas where there were animals that included, horses, miniature horses, donkeys, cows, peacocks, ducks, dogs and cats. Some of the animals suffered minor injuries.
“It was just miraculous. I have so many, and they were spread out everywhere. I had what I could get in the barn, but all their shelters were damaged. Some were obliterated,” Pecot said.
The owner said she was looking to sell the farm, but now she’s worried the storm damage has decreased the value of the property.