According to local officials, a city just southeast of Los Angeles was struck by a rare tornado on Wednesday, resulting in at least one person being injured, CNN reported.
The National Weather Service verified that the tornado briefly touched down in an industrial park and warehouse district in Montebello, and categorized the tornado as an EF-1 with estimated peak winds of 110 mph – the strongest tornado to hit the Los Angeles area since 1983.
The tornado caused damage to at least 17 buildings, 11 of which were deemed too dangerous to use by the fire department due to the “intense microcell,” stated Michael Chee, a city public information officer.
At a news conference, Chee reported that the injury that was mentioned earlier is considered minor, as reported by CNN.
The National Weather Service examined the storm damage in Montebello on Wednesday and revealed that the tornado caused a building’s roof to collapse, snapped a power pole, ejected an HVAC unit from a building’s top, broke skylights, damaged cars, and uprooted a healthy pine tree with a 1-foot wide trunk.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reports that tornadoes are infrequent in California, with an average of fewer than 10 occurrences per year. The majority of tornadoes in the state are small in size and short in duration.
Written by staff
B.C. Begley 