TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Leon County Sheriff's Office said an adult woman died after a tree fell on her family's home in Tallahassee.
This is the first reported death after possible tornadoes downed trees, damaged property and sent debris flying Friday morning across parts of Tallahassee.
Much of the Florida Panhandle experienced a line of strong to severe thunderstorms that prompted numerous tornado warnings from the National Weather Service. Staff at the office in Tallahassee posted on X that they, too, took shelter as the storms approached.
A severe thunderstorm watch issued just after 4 a.m. warned of "widespread damaging wind gusts" with gusts to 80 mph possible, hail and a tornado or two possible.
Damage from the storm
Pictures and videos show trees down, branches skewed all over people's property, and cars and houses damaged.
Florida State University also took a hit with its circus tent being damaged as video shows parts of it ripped off on the ground. The Dick Howser Stadium, the home of FSU baseball, also took a hit. Pictures show the green fence falling over and debris everywhere.
The city's power map shows hundreds of outages. The city warned residents to stay off the roads because of many trees and power lines down.
The city said power restoration will possibly take through the weekend and over 66,000 customers are without service.
StarMetro, the public transit system, said storm-related road blockages have impacted all its routes and routes will continue when roads are declared safe.
The Waffle House, which is usually open 24/7, is one of the many stores closed, according to a X post by Barstool FSU.
Schools close
The storms hit during the morning rush to get kids to school.
FSU, Florida A&M University and Tallahassee Community College are closed. Leon County Schools are closed and the district is asking parents to pick up their kids if they are at school.
In a video, Superintendent Rocky Hanna thanked the parents and school staff for handling the situation this morning when they decided to close schools after some students were already there.
"Unfortunately right before 7 a.m., the alarms went off, we held our busses at our high schools, moved our kids into safety into the hallways in our high schools and then waited for the storm to pass," he said.
Warnings from the National Weather Service
The National Weather Service in Tallahassee said there were radar-confirmed tornadoes just before 7 a.m., according to an X post.
Severe thunderstorm warnings were in place for Tallahassee and other parts of the panhandle this morning with wind gusts up to 70 mph, according to NWS. The team said it is "too soon to determine whether winds or a tornado are responsible" for the damage reports in the Tallahassee area.
The weather service predicted destructive winds, isolated tornadoes and hail followed by heavy rainfall.
A severe thunderstorm watch was in effect until 11 a.m. for Bay, Calhoun, Dixie, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Holmes and many other counties up in the Panhandle.
Parts of north central Florida, such as Alachua, Baker and Marion counties, were also under watch during the morning.
DeSantis' response
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said he directed the Florida Division of Emergency Management to work with local officials to help residents recover from the storm, according to an X post.