A SMALL TORNADO sweeped through a neighbourhood in Los Angeles yesterday.
This video captured by an eye witness shows the severe winds of the storm tear the roof off a building.
The tornado, with wind speeds of 65 to 85 mph, struck a south Los Angeles intersection shortly before 9:30 am ripping tiles off roofs, damaging trees and mangling a billboard.
“It got a lot of people excited, but thank goodness nobody was hurt,” said Stuart Seto of the National Weather Service.
The storm dumped up to 5 inches of desperately needed rain in Southern California. A landslide left 10 homes uninhabitable and fire officials executed a dramatic rescue of two people from the Los Angeles River.
At the storm’s height, about 50,000 customers lost power, though most had it back quickly.
Still, with few exceptions, damage across the region was minor and the soaking was welcome in a state withered by three years of drought. No serious injuries were reported as the storm existed east toward the desert.
Additional reporting Christina Finn
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