CUTLER BAY, FLA. (WSVN) - Powerful winds sent an entire closed-in patio flying from one Cutler Bay home to another one block over, as a line of strong thunderstorms made their way across Florida.
Cutler Bay residents said they heard a loud noise, late Sunday afternoon.
“I heard a big boom! It was like a crash, like a roof going out,” said area resident Magaly Llapur.
David, who lives where the patio used to be, said he initially didn’t know he’d lost a part of his property.
“I heard wind,” he said.
David’s home sits on a lake, and the resident said it wasn’t until family members alerted him that he realized what had happened.
“All of a sudden, my son came and said, ‘Daddy, the backyard is in the front yard,'” he said.
Parts of David’s patio became debris that fell in other parts of the neighborhood. The rest went over a house and into Llapur’s front yard.
Llapur said she woke up to a mangled mess in her driveway.
“I couldn’t think of anything. I thought, ‘Oh, my God, what happened?'” she said.
The airborne debris also swiped parts of Llapur’s roof and damaged her satellite dish.
“I have no cable, no TV. I have no internet access because the box was damaged,” she said.
The strong winds also caused chaos in parts of South Florida.
Cellphone video showed furniture flying across a Miami Beach neighborhood. Another clip showed people running from the rain.
There were also reports of quarter-size hail in Miami Lakes, as well as shingles blown off and broken tree limbs in Deerfield Beach.
Back in Cutler Bay, area residents said they had a big mess to clean up but are counting their blessings because no one was hurt.
“None of my kids were in the vehicle or coming in, because imagine someone coming into my driveway at that same time. It would be something bad,” said Llapur.
Late Sunday night, most of the rain tapered off following scattered showers across South Florida and downpours in parts of the Florida Keys. Wind gusts of 54 mph were reported in Key Largo.
The cleanup effort in Cutler Bay took place on Monday morning thanks to a crew from Lawns By George.
“I would have never thought that kind of wind,” said George Fraga from Lawns By George. “I couldn’t understand how wind blew that. I thought maybe it had to be some kind of tornado or something. That’s kind of weird. How it missed the cars, I don’t know. I’ve been through a lot of hurricanes and stuff here, and we’ve done a lot of work in this area, but I would have never thought that would’ve happened.”
The team cut, folded and hauled away the closed-in patio.
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