LONGWOOD, Fla. — Homeowners in the Markham Glen subdivision in Longwood had damage from the EF-2 tornado that touched down on Monday morning.
Longwood resident Keri Nagib says she was at a doctor’s appointment when she got a tornado warning on her phone.
“I walked out of the office, barely any rain. Come down on Markham Woods Road and came home to this,” she said.
Her home was one of many in the Markham Glen subdivision that got hit by the tornado.
“When I pulled up to the front, I thought, oh, thank goodness, nothing’s wrong with the house. Until the sheriff’s department met me here because the alarm had gone off and he walked around the house and said, you better come to the back side,” Nagib said.
The damage to her home can be seen in the backyard. Fallen trees and a damaged pool screen, which was completely lifted off the ground and slammed onto part of her roof.
Longwood resident Keri Nagib's pool screen was completely ripped off the ground from an EF-2 tornado on Monday. (Spectrum News/Massiel Leyva)
“I don’t know what I would have done if I had been here and all of that was going on. The neighbor across the street said it was very loud when it came through,” Nagib said.
She said her dog Luke was home alone at the time it happened. When she came home, she found him in the corner of his pen, shaking.
“I couldn’t imagine being home when this happened. I mean, it just lifted it right off the concrete,” she said, observing the damage in the pool.
Nagib said in over 25 years living here, she’s never had this level of damage to her home. Not even during a hurricane.
“It’s just amazing that the force of the wind to do something like this in seconds versus ... hours of the hurricane winds,” she said.
Nagib said she’s already contacted her insurance broker to start moving forward with the claims, but she said she feels lucky there was no damage inside the house.