Buildings Left Damaged by Miami Twister

MIAMI — A tornado stormed past Miami’s high-rise condominiums early Monday afternoon, smashing windows and sending terrified residents in the path of the funnel cloud scrambling for cover.

Numerous minor injuries were reported.

The storm, which touched down shortly before 2 p.m. EDT, uprooted trees, hurled branches and other debris and shattered the glass facades of several structures, including a new three-story building downtown.

Several local television stations captured spectacular footage of the funnel cloud as it blew through downtown and then tracked the shore past condo towers and across the Venetian and MacArthur causeways on Biscayne Bay.

In Little Havana, the roof of a three-story building collapsed on a woman living on the top floor. Her condition was not immediately known.

At the MacArthur Causeway to the south, the tornado brought busy traffic to a halt.

Joseph McCrea, a toll collector at the Venetian Causeway that leads to Miami Beach, said he watched the storm rip trees out of the ground and set off small explosions as it tore down power lines.

The storm then blew along Miami’s Coral Way and went east five or six miles toward the Miami Arena “until it got smaller and suddenly it was gone out over the bay,” said police spokesman Delrish Moss.

The city’s biggest problem was expected to be accidents caused by lost traffic signs.

An American Airlines jet flying into Miami International Airport hit severe turbulence because of the tornado. Two passengers and five flight attendants were injured.

Airline spokeswoman Martha Pantin said the injured were taken to area hospitals, but details on their conditions were unavailable. The A300, from Boston, had 156 passengers and nine crew members aboard. The plane landed safely.