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See Video of the Florida Water Spout That Prompted This Reaction: ‘Like the Breath of God’

Feb. 27, 2013 9:24am Liz Klimas

Severe weather in Tampa, Fla., Tuesday churned up a waterspout in a bay that made landfall, damaging coastline buildings and downing trees and lampposts.

One of the most iconic images from the storm was taken by a SKYWARN spotter volunteer for the National Weather Service, Robert Siegel. According to Our Amazing Planet, Siegel was visiting Florida on vacation and was near the Hillsborough Bay just after 11 a.m. to snap a photo of the spout.

Florida Waterspout Makes Landfall Turning Into Tornado With Winds Up to 85 MPH

This image was tweeted by Tampa’s regional National Weather Service from Robert Siegel. (Image: NWS/Robert Siegel)

Once the spout hit land, it was a tornado with winds reaching up to 85 miles per hour. The area was warned earlier in the day of the potential for tornadoes with a watch in effect until 3 p.m. due to a cold front moving into the area.

According to Tampa Bay Online, those in the area reported the high winds coming on suddenly:

Around the corner at Hooters, general manager Robert Fisher said the sky turned an ominous shade of orange shortly after 11 a.m.

“Very suddenly, it got very windy,” he said.

The front door flew open, then slammed shut, Fisher said. He ushered employees and customers away from windows just as a streetlamp outside snapped in half.

Tables and chairs in Hooters’ outside patio were tossed and damaged. The wind plucked one table from the patio and catapulted it across the street, where it crashed into the wall of a parking garage.

“The whole thing lasted only 30 to 45 seconds,” Fisher said.

Tampa police officers interview witnesses and take photos of a large piece of roofing that fell on the sidewalk in front of waterfront docks on Harbour Island in Tampa, Fla. on Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. The National Weather Service confirmed the damage was caused by a tornado Tuesday morning. (Photo: AP/The Tampa Tribune, Jim Reed)

Austin McWhorter of Clearwater, left, and Henry Carpenter of Indian Rocks Beach walk down a rainy street in Treasure Island as they head for the weather-driven waves at Sunset Beach, Tuesday, Feb. 26, 2013. A tornado watch was issued Tuesday morning for Pinellas, Hillsborough, Pasco and Hernando counties. The National Weather Service issued the watch to cover most of the central and north Florida area. (Photo: AP/Tampa Bay Times, Will Vragovic)

WPTV reported Harbour Island Hotel guest Adam Page describing the waterspout turned tornado as “like the breath of God.”

“I opened the window, I opened the shades up and I see there is heavy wind and for literally about six or seconds seconds, it was like the breath of God came down,” Page said, according to WPTV. “The next thing I knew I saw a piece of a palm tree and that whole piece of roofing that you guys see over there. I see that, just flying off. All the trees are pretty much like horizontal to the ground and for a second I was like, ‘what’s going on over here?’”

Watch this local ABC station’s report detailing some of the damage:

(H/T: Daily Mail)

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Comments (17)

Neno
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 6:15pm
Only the penitent man will pass, Only the penitent man will pass.

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- LetUsReason
  Posted on February 27, 2013 at 6:25pm
  Duck and roll, I suppose.
  
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BuzzardSays
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 1:44pm
When God speaks people literally mess themselves. The Israelites where like OMG Moses tell Him to stop we are crapping ourselves in fright. This is why God began to work through Prophets who the Israelites promptly killed. All except Elijah.

Finally the Son was sent and the Israelites offered Him up on the cross. The one thing you can give the Israelites they are consistently forgetful of the truth that they themselves asked for. Oh God don’t speak, Oh God who is this uppity prophet telling us of our sin, Oh God send us the Messiah, Oh God His blood be on us and our children.

Well the Israelites will have opportunity to crap themselves once again in the near future once Jesus sets His feet on the Mount of Olives. Christians will be shouting hurrah…and Israelites and unbelievers will be saying “Oh Crap”.

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- Neno
  Posted on February 27, 2013 at 6:16pm
  Only the penitent man will pass, Only the penitent man will pass!
  
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thegreatcarnac
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 11:12am
Water spouts are very cunning.

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ojesus97
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 10:41am
I saw no video of the spout. I only saw a video of a report on the spout and the still pics looked foggy or like a heavy rain. It appears the headline was over sensationalized! I am a fan but c’mon people!!!

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wilbstal
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 10:13am
God trying to get your attention. All this went by many of you heathens and sinners. pay attention Dumbos

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AlcoholicMB
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 10:02am
Waterspouts are common, but still cool to see.

Snownadoes however, like the one I saw during the last big winter storm, are way cooler.

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huey6367
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 10:00am
I live in the Tampa area. The tornado was nothing. Cool picture, though.

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Budrow
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 9:45am
Good, great, wonderful, let’s move on.

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The-Monk
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 9:38am
I was rather pissed-off yesterday….

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- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on February 27, 2013 at 9:45am
  Hi MONK, Why? Did you sleep through it?
  
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- The-Monk
  Posted on February 27, 2013 at 9:48am
  Hi RJJ,
  
  No, the 2 young managers at work decided to screw with me again.
  
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- RJJinGadsden
  Posted on February 27, 2013 at 10:06am
  Hi MONK, Oh, sorry to hear about that. Hope that all is okay regardless.
  
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- Darmok and Jalad at Tanagra
  Posted on February 27, 2013 at 11:09am
  Hey Monk, hopefully they were cute, or at least wanted to cuddle afterwards. (just kidding)
  
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redfish52
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 9:37am
I lived in Charleston SC and fished off of the surf on Capers Island for years. One day I was the observer of a rare double water spout event. It was kind of comical because as they moved parallel and down the beach line there was a shrimp boat trawling between them….this is the one and only day I remembered I had left my camera on the kitchen counter….oh and I caught a 32″ Red Fish the same day that was released without a photo also.

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ginger100
Posted on February 27, 2013 at 9:35am
or the sound of trumpets.

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