Tornado destroys Wellington ranch during Milton's wrath: 'It's heartbreaking'
"The devastation I have just come upon is the most significant devastation that I’ve seen so far since I’ve been on the ground covering the aftermath of the tornadoes produced by Hurricane Milton," FOX Weather Meteorologist Kendall Smith said.
Florida ranch destroyed by tornado outbreak spawned ahead of Milton landfall
A Florida ranch was destroyed after a likely tornado blew through their property on Wednesday, uprooting trees, ripping off the roof of a home and hurling vehicles around the property.
WELLINGTON, Fla. – A Florida ranch was destroyed when a tornado blew through the property on Wednesday, uprooting trees, ripping off the roof of a home and hurling vehicles across the street.
The Wellington ranch was among the multiple places in southeastern Florida hit by a historic tornado outbreak hours before Hurricane Milton made landfall.
FOX Weather Meteorologist Kendall Smith was given a close look at the extent of destruction.
"The devastation I have just come upon is the most significant devastation that I’ve seen so far since I’ve been on the ground covering the aftermath of the tornadoes produced by Hurricane Milton," Smith said.
Some of the damage includes a van and a Dodge Ram truck tossed several yards from the driveway, as if they were toys. A Coleman RV was picked up and slammed into the side of a structure, crumpling like paper mache on impact.
Throughout the property, trees and other vegetation were snapped or uprooted. One of which was a tree with a trunk base about 5 feet wide, as evidenced by 5-foot-tall Smith walking by it.
"This really just shows the ferocity of this tornado and how powerful it really was," she said.
Damage from tornado in Wellington, Florida during Hurricane Milton (FOX Weather)
Smith said the family's laundry room held up strong, but they emerged to find much of their home's roof gone and debris strewn about the inside.
"Literally the roof is gone," she said as she went inside the damaged home. "There is sunlight inside."
Damage from tornado in Wellington, Florida during Hurricane Milton (Kendall Smith / FOX Weather)
Among the devastation and debris, another creature caught Smith’s attention: a teddy bear. She noted that it did not belong to the ranch owners. In fact, they found it lodged in the side of a wall, with its red lights lit up and singing the tune "Happy Birthday."
"Can you imagine how eerie, how scary that must have been?," Smith said. "So, the scenes here are unimaginable."
The teddy bear. (Kendall Smith)
She noted that the ranch had 7 horses at the time of the twister. They managed to escape and were uninjured, save for one that sustained minor damage to one of its eyes.
"It's heartbreaking when you're in the wake of devastation," she added. "It's hard not to cry. You're shocked. You're stunned. You don't even know how to really collect your thoughts."
The tornado that struck the Wellington ranch has yet to be rated by the National Weather Service. However, a tornado that devastated neighboring Palm Beach Gardens was given an EF-3 rating by the NWS as it had maximum winds speeds of 140 mph.
Tornado destroys backyard in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. (Robert Hubert via Storyful / FOX Weather)
"This just goes to show what these people in this community needs and not just the community of Wellington, but the communities all across the east coast of Florida and even all across the state of Florida, for that matter," Smith said. "Because Milton, it's going to be a storm that will be remembered by millions for years to come and perhaps even generations to come because of the devastation that it caused and the pain it caused to so many of these families."