I was the lead writer on this story about a tornado that left hundreds without a

home on Christmas Day. The Florida Press Club awarded it top honors in the
breaking news category.
Twistmas: Vicious storms tear through Volusia County

Daytona Beach News-Journal (FL) - December 26, 2006

Author/Byline: SETH ROBBINS, JIM HAUG and MARK HARPER - STAFF WRITERS
Edition: Final
Section: Section A
Page: 01A

Severe thunderstorms and strong winds, including at least one tornado, walloped West Volusia and Daytona Beach
on Christmas afternoon, destroying homes, felling power lines and trees, damaging planes and leaving many people
without shelter.

Ten people countywide, two of them seriously injured, were transported to area hospitals, and two shelters were opened
for displaced residents, emergency officials said.

"We were very lucky we did not have a major loss of life," Volusia County Sheriff Ben Johnson said Monday night.
"I'm amazed."

The ferocious weather barreled through the area about 2 p.m., damaging up to 200 mobile homes at four
manufactured home parks north of DeLand and ripping up three buildings at a Daytona Beach apartment complex on
South Nova Road. The gusting winds also destroyed an airplane hangar and 50-60 planes at Embry-Riddle
Aeronautical University. Late Monday night, more than 50 people had filed into the shelters and thousands were still
without power.

Tony Cristaldi, senior meteorologist from the National Weather Service in Melbourne, said Daytona Beach was hit by
a category F2 tornado shortly before 2 p.m. Winds gusted at speeds of about 120 mph when the twister ripped through
the area from Embry-Riddle to the east.

Weather officials were not able to get crews out to the area north of DeLand before darkness to determine if a tornado
struck there. However, Christaldi said that was likely because the storm showed significant rotation on the radar.

Lois Hierspiel was putting an English muffin into the toaster when her adult son Donald heard a sound he compared to
the roar of a train. The two had seen tornado watches on television, but didn't think one could be that close to their home
in the Fernwood Mobile Home Park north of DeLand. Then, the windows blew out. Lois Hierspiel found herself crawling
when she was struck on the head by something. Donald thinks it was glass.

"The tornado lifted up the house next to ours," said Lois Hierspiel, whose green Christmas sweatshirt was damp from
the rain. "God, you should see it."

Between 150 to 200 homes in four manufactured home parks - Orangewood Mobile Home Park, Fernwood Mobile
Home Park, Meadowlea Estates and Rosewood Mobile Home Park - were damaged. As many as 100 of the homes in
the unincorporated area north of DeLand were destroyed, Johnson said. Power outages forced other residents out.

As darkness descended on the Brandywine Shopping Center, where emergency workers were helping displaced
residents, Steve Parker leaned on a walker and worried.

"I'm disabled. My mother lives on Social Security. This is Christmas, and we got no money," he said.
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A diabetic who lost part of his left leg, Parker said the tornado didn't damage his home in the Orangewood Mobile Home
Park but blew away the stairs on both sides of his home. A neighbor helped him and his mother out of the home when
the storm was over.

They were hungry and the power was knocked out, so they drove out of the park to a nearby grocery store to get a
sandwich. Authorities wouldn't let them return.

Parker was due for an insulin shot and hadn't brought it with him. He was concerned he might go into shock, and also
feared for his mother, who didn't have her pills. Meanwhile, his dinner, a cut of prime rib, sat in his refrigerator getting
warm because the power was out.

"That's my Christmas," he sighed.

William Collins, who lives north of DeLand but not in the most heavily damaged areas, was driving home from an
early Christmas dinner at his mother's home when the storm hit. He took photos in the Meadowlea Estates mobile
home park, where he reported pieces of homes were stuck in trees, many roofs were torn off homes and pine trees
were topped off.

"It looked like the dump," he said.

Outside the mobile home parks, the storm knocked out power temporarily, but, if not for news coverage, residents might
not have even known a tornado was destroying homes only a mile or two away.

Jeff and Stephanie Smith of the Brandywine subdivision said they were forced to heat up their turkey and sweet potatoes at
a relative's home, but their power was restored within a couple of hours.

"It didn't even get that dark out," Stephanie Smith said.

Light holiday traffic was turned around at several points in the area, including northbound U.S. 17 at Glenwood Road, parts
of State Road 11 and Mercers Fernery Road.

In Daytona Beach, six people were injured, with two transported to Halifax Medical Center, after the tornado barreled
through the center of the Sutton Place apartment complex on South Nova Road, peeling off walls and exposing the
rooms within. Shattered glass, standing puddles and downed power lines covered the ground at the complex, about a
block and a half south of International Speedway Boulevard.

Firefighters went door to door looking for people. The entire apartment complex was evacuated and officials estimated
more than 150 people were asked to leave.

It was a busy day for ambulances, also. In the midst of the countywide disaster, there were dozens of accidents on
Interstate 95 because of the weather and holiday traffic, said Mark O'Keefe, EVAC ambulance spokesman.

"It has been a Christmas like no other in recent memory," he said.

About 4,200 Progress Energy customers in West Volusia lost power, said spokeswoman Lisa Newkirk. Outages were
mostly concentrated in DeLand and Orange City. By 9 p.m. Monday, just about 500 customers were still without power.

Daytona Beach International Airport briefly lost power, but no flights were affected by the storm. The control tower
was operating on power from a generator Monday night, officials said.

Volusia County Emergency Management Director Jim Ryan said he was "quite surprised" at how well agencies
within Volusia, including law enforcement officers, emergency medical teams and fire rescue personnel, responded to
the damaged areas.

"It all depends on the people on duty," he said.

About 190 workers responded in West Volusia alone, a county spokeswoman said.

The American Red Cross opened an emergency shelter at Liberty Baptist Church, 1365 W. Plymouth Ave., DeLand,
for residents whose homes were damaged and those who lost electricity.

Officials plan to continue working to restore power and assessing damage today.

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- Staff Writer Joe Crews contributed to this report.

Christmas Day Storms

ROADS CLOSED

U.S. 17, Mercers Fernery Road north to S.R. 15A (North Spring Garden Avenue)

GLENWOOD ROAD, Wilmhurst Road to U.S. 17

CARTER ROAD, Marsh Road to State Road 11

LOCAL RESIDENTS with proper identification will be allowed into the affected areas, officials said.

SHELTERS

Liberty Baptist Church, 1365 W. Plymouth Ave., DeLand; Daytona City Church, 211 Bay St., Daytona Beach

TRACKING THE STORMS BY THE NUMBERS

10

people transported to area hospitals with injuries

200

approximate number of mobile homes damaged

100

approximate number of mobile homes destroyed

50-60

Embry-Riddle aircraft damaged

F2

category tornado that hit Daytona Beach

120 mph

estimated speed of wind gusts of tornado that hit Daytona Beach

Caption: 2 Photos & News-Journal Graphic
Photo 1: EVAC personnel help a man whom Daytona Beach firefighters rescued from a second-floor apartment at
Sutton Place after a tornado ripped through the Nova Road complex Monday afternoon. News-Journal/ JESSICA
WEBB Photo 2: The Fernwood Mobile Home Park in DeLand was one of four in West Volusia hit hard by storms that
ravaged the area Christmas Day. News-Journal/ JUSTIN YURKANIN News-Journal graphics on areas hit hardest
by Christmas Day storms.

Record Number: 409789868

Copyright, 2006, The News-Journal Corporation

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