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Hurricane Ian brought dangerous tornadoes to South Florida Tuesday evening (September 27), flipping planes and uprooting trees, according to NBC 6.
A tornado touched down at North Perry Airport in Pembroke Pines, damaging several aircraft and hangars, officials confirmed to reporters. Pictures captured at the scene show planes turned upside down or even destroyed. One image shows a few places stacked on top of each other against a fence.
Luckily, no injuries were reported. The airport was temporarily shut down for officials to assess the damage.
There were other reports of twisters in other parts of Broward County, including one that started in Miami Gardens. The storm spun through Pembroke Pines, Miramar, and Cooper City. There's damage consistent with a second possible one just two miles southwest of Hollywood.
Jeff Palmer, who lives in Cooper City, told the news station a tornado yanked a huge oak tree out of the ground and fell onto the street in his neighborhood. He wasn't home when the scary moment happened, but his wife and kids were.
“I got a call, she was freaking out,” Palmer recounted. “She said it sounded like a train was coming by. She quickly ran, and grabbed the kids, grabbed the dog, and ran into the bathroom.”
Robert Brun, a Pembroke Pines resident, told WPLG that a tornado knocked down a massive tree near his home.
“It’s across the road, thankfully it didn’t come on my boat,” Brun said. “My fence just blew off like it wasn’t there and my front yard just looks like a war zone.”
Ian strengthened into a terrifying Category 4, being just 2 mph shy of Category 5 early Wednesday (September 28). The catastrophic hurricane is whipping up winds up to 155 mph, threatening the Central Florida region with "life-threatening storm surge, catastrophic winds, and flooding expected with Ian in the Florida peninsula," according to the National Hurricane Center.