Severe weather causes damage at neighbors’ homes in parts of SWFL

Reporter: Taylor Smith Writer: Jack Lowenstein
Published: Updated:
Credit: WINK News.

Friday evening, storms damaged some homes in parts of Southwest Florida.

One viewer spotted a funnel cloud along McGregor Boulevard near the Sanibel Outlets in south Fort Myers.

In Naples Estates, several homes were damaged, including a house with a roof ripped off. Neighbors say they didn’t hear things like that happening or trees falling down as they sheltered indoors.

“The whole house was shaken,” neighbor Drew Antale said. “Our shutters were jumping up and down.”

Even hail was a factor across Southwest Florida, along with the rain and wind causing a mess in some neighborhoods to be cleaned up. Flooding was also a nuisance due to severe weather in certain areas.

In Naples Estates, Antale walked out of his home to find a palm tree on top of his neighbor’s carport.

“That tree’s been coming down for a long time,” Antale said.

Nearby in Lely, a trampoline went from a tree and then into a pool.

“You could hear the sirens from the golf course going off,” neighbor Nick Cuomo said. “I was saying, ‘What do we got, a tropical storm happening?’ That’s what it seemed like.”

The winds even took down Nick Cuomo’s neighbor’s antenna.

“The winds were pretty strong, and the rain was going sideways,” Cuomo said.

A possible funnel cloud was spotted near the Sanibel Outlets.

“We’ve been through hurricanes, fires,” Linda Sexton said. “We’ve been through coronavirus. We just gotta take it in stride.”

Neighbors reached out to a homeowner whose property was damaged and is currently for sale. Luckily, everyone we spoke to told us no one near them was hurt from any of the storms in their communities.

Homeowners expressed they’ve been through a lot of bad weather throughout the years, and say they will help each other out with this damage too.

“We all came together in times of trouble,” Sexton said.

Copyright ©2024 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.