Severe weather ravages Florida airport, several injured

2011-04-01 01:20:15 GMT+7 (ICT)

LAKELAND, FLORIDA (BNO NEWS) -- Several people were injured on Thursday afternoon when severe weather damaged a local airport in Polk County, Florida, officials said. A CNN report about a hangar collapse turned out to be false.

The severe weather, which included four confirmed tornado sightings, swept through Polk County from the east on Thursday and resulted in damages and power outages throughout the county. There were no reports of fatalities and all people were accounted for.

According Polk County Public Safety officials, a roof of a large tent collapsed at Lake Linder Airport in Lakeland with 70 people inside. Officials reported that six people from the tent were transported to Lakeland Regional Medical Center for treatment, but their injuries were described as minor.

Dozens of small planes flipped during the storm, but it was not immediately clear if a tornado had struck the airport. The 37th Sun n' Fun Fly-in and Expo was being held at the airport when it happened.

An earlier report from CNN that claimed that a hangar had collapsed at the airport, trapping dozens of people, turned out to be inaccurate. "That is a false report. That didn't happen. I don't know how that got started," an airport spokeswoman said.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-04-01

Where I live ( Tampa, FL) we got big thunderstorm and rain continuing for 2 days and nights, the lake behind my backyard swollens and the water starts creeping up on the yard toward my patio which is on a higher slope.

Luckily, the rain stop last night and this morning Floridians were greeted with big-bright-blue sky gorgeous day.

It was a tent that blew down. A few folks trapped for a few minutes. Many planes overturned and about 60 damaged.

Click for photos and details

Hi Tink~!

Edited April 5, 201115 yr by tampasailor