Intense Storm Likened To 'A Tornado Out Of Nowhere'

Chris Harris was at the corner of State Road 60 and Valrico Road, having a drink at McDonald's, when he saw the trash cans blowing about. Across the street, at the Shell gas station, sat the canopy for Auto Detailing by Superior Maintenance, where Harris works.

"The rain was so [intense] and the wind was so powerful that it knocked over the canopy and its cement stabilizers," Harris said.

While not confirmed, Harris described the event as "a tornado out of nowhere, it was heavy rain falling sideways."

Harris gave witness to the full fury of the storm, which in the late afternoon of June 26 hit the corner he was at particularly hard.

A Hess worker at the southeast corner said two light panels blew off the canopy there and that a small electrical fire, likely due to lightning, had closed the station for a short spell and brought firefighters to the scene. He said he had been told the incident was not ruled a tornado, but rather a storm with high winds. 

A shopper there said she was at the nearby Home Depot just minutes earlier, where she saw "lots of wind" and rain that "wasn't straight-falling."

Streets were flooded, some traffic lights were out and Susan Lucas Kazenas, in a post on the Brandon Patch Facebook page, said she was at the corner of State Road 60 and Mulrennan Road as the storm made its way through the Greater Brandon area of Valrico.

"[I] noticed that the winds had shifted and rain was blowing in the opposite direction than it had been a few minutes earlier," she said. "I actually looked for a tornado but there was too much rain to see anything."

Before 5 p.m. we asked readers if they had heard anything about a possible tornado near State Road 60 and Valrico Road.

Responses quickly made their way to our Facebook page.

• Shannon Sabroski said it "got super nasty and windy" near her home off Valrico Road.

• Katie Babb-Neuhard said that as much as she loves a good thunderstorm, the one June 26 was "getting on my last nerve."

• Irma Davila reported "really bad" conditions near State Road 60 and Bryan Road, with lightning and flooding, while Amanda Paterson Acosta noted strong winds off State Road 60 and Mulrennan Road.

• Karlise Guzman reported damage at Einstein Bros. Bagels on Brandon Boulevard. "The actual plastic part had been blown out, I guess," she said. "Tree limbs down, Victoria and Clay are flooded, HUGE lightning bolts and rain coming down so hard that you can't see across the street."

• From Sheila Mainous, reports of "bad rain and wind" at Strawberry Ridge, with "lots of lightning and thunder." Erin Green said she lives near the Hess station, and her "electricity went out three times, once for about 20 min[utes]" and that she "couldn't see past [her] lanai."