At least 30 families displaced after severe storms rip through Orlando

ORLANDO, Fla. — Rescue teams are picking up the pieces after heavy rain and strong winds uprooted trees and scalped homes in Central Florida this weekend.

The National Weather Service issued alert after alert for nearly five hours as tornadoes and similar anomalies were reported in Orange, Seminole, and Volusia counties.

Many of these reports were verified with help from heavy social media coverage on the ground, the NWS opting to reference “the public” to quickly warn of debris on roadways, spouts, funnel clouds and tornadoes as soon as they were visible.

In total, three funnel clouds, two tornadoes, one landspout and one waterspout were reported between 5:40 p.m. and 10:01 p.m. according to the NWS.

CONTENT WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE

Our news partners at Channel 9 WFTV fired up the “Skywitness 9” chopper this morning to survey some of the damage left behind by Saturday’s severe weather.

Orange County Fire Rescue told WFTV that about 30 to 50 families have been displaced by the storm.

Anyone else who needs shelter or general assistance is asked to visit the Red Cross headquarters at 5 N. Bumby Ave.

UPDATE - At 12:18 p.m., the NWS confirmed that an "EF1" tornado traveled 5.3 miles north (parallel to Ferncreek Ave.) after forming above Lake Conway as a waterspout at 7:20 p.m. Saturday.

The tornado was 350-500 meters in diameter and reached wind speeds as fast as 105 miles per hour.