Caught on Video: Tornado Touching Down at Fort Lauderdale Airport

225 flights were delayed and 18 cancelled at the Fort Lauderdale airport were delayed yesterday when a tornado touched down on the northwest part of the airport.

The tornado shut down a runway around 4:30 p.m. and “blew luggage trolleys into the airfield.” It sat “from 4:25 p.m. to 4:36 p.m. and stretched for just over 3 miles at a width of 40 yards.”

The tornado, which was about 40 yard wide and reached speeds of about 84 mph, moved to the extreme southern end of Port Everglades, where it damaged multiple cargo containers. Witnesses reported that portable toilets were tossed about amid the heavy winds.

It was 7:30 p.m. before debris was cleared and the runway could be re-opened. Here’s video:

This was a relatively weak “EF-0” tornado.

(HT: Jessica Puckett)

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. Now that is what you call a real sh*tstorm!

    “The tornado, which was about 40 yard wide and reached speeds of about 84 mph, moved to the extreme southern end of Port Everglades…Witnesses reported that portable toilets were tossed about amid the heavy winds.”

  2. Not very intelligent to video in front of a large GLASS window with debris flying…… idiots!

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