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'Very Weak' Tornado Caught On Manatee County EMS Dash Cam: Watch

Oct 17, 2023

BRADENTON, FL — The dashboard camera of a Manatee County EMS ambulance captured an EF-0 tornado Friday afternoon as it moved through a mobile home park in Bradenton. The Manatee County Public Safety Department shared the video on social media Tuesday. (Watch the video below.)

In the video, as aluminum siding and other debris flies around, one EMT is heard saying, "Hey, you see the roof?"

The other EMT in the ambulance said, "Oh my god. Is that a tornado? It is a tornado. Look!"

As more debris flew around them and a transformer appeared to blow, the driver backed the ambulance away from the worst of the storm.

His partner called in the tornado, telling the dispatcher, "We’re here on scene. We were getting ready to clear and it looks like a small tornado has come through this trailer park. It looks like it's ripped maybe two or three roofs off and a transformer blew."

Though the trailer park wasn't identified in the video, on Facebook, the Public Safety Department said that 10 homes were damaged at Chateau Village and another 21 were damaged at Swan Lake Village Mobile Home Parks. 911 received calls about the damage around 2:30 p.m.

"Thankfully, no injuries were reported," the department said.

The department said the U.S. National Weather Service in Tampa Bay determined "a very brief, very weak EF-0 tornado" hit the mobile home parks.

Watch the dashboard camera video of the EF-0 tornado damaging homes in a Bradenton mobile home park below:

Tiffany Razzano