Tornado hits Pinellas County in Florida, thousands lose power

A tornado caused considerable damage and shut down the power in Pinellas County, Florida, local media reported on Wednesday.

Warnings were also issued for east Hillsborough County and Polk County, but were later lifted although residents remained cautious.

The tornado warnings started in Pinellas as soon as meteorologists detected it as it moved east across mid-Pinellas County and then entered the waters of Tampa Bay near the Howard Frankland Bridge, Tampa Bay Times wrote.

Reports of damage and flying debris started coming from around the area.

The National Weather Service lifted a tornado warning for the Tampa area at about 4:30 PM. It issued a new warning for the areas along the Hillsborough-Polk county line from Plant City to Polk City, which expired an hour later, the report said.

Meanwhile damage reports from across mid-Pinellas suggest about 14,000 customers have lost power, according to Duke Energy’s online outage map.