MONTEBELLO (KNX NEWS, CNS) - The tornado that tore through Montebello Wednesday morning was the strongest twister to hit the Los Angeles metro area since 1983, the National Weather Service said.
After conducting an on-the-ground survey, the weather service classified the tornado as an EF1 with peak winds of 110 miles per hour. The tornado ripped through an area fifty yards wide over nearly half a mile.
Montebello fire officials say only one minor injury has been reported as a result of the tornado activity. Inspectors checked 17 buildings in the area, and 11 of them have been red-tagged due to the damage suffered in the storm, according to the fire department.
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One building suffered a near-total roof collapse. In another, an HVAC unit was ejected from the top. Cars were damaged with windows destroyed, according to the National Weather Service assessment.
The National Weather Service on Tuesday night issued a brief tornado warning in southwestern Los Angeles County, but it was allowed to expire after about 15 minutes when weather conditions eased.
There was no such warning in place late Wednesday morning when the powerful winds hit Montebello, near the area of Washington Boulevard and Vail Avenue.
The National Weather Service's Ryan Kittell told KNX News unlike in the midwest, radar equipment in the L.A. area is situated in the mountains for better coverage of the entire region - but is unable to detect the rotation near the ground that would indicate a tornado.
"That was decided decades ago," Kittell said. "It's pretty much impossible to detect anything spinning near the surface, that's the drawback."
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The NWS earlier dispatched such a team to the Carpinteria area, which suffered damage Tuesday evening that could have been the result of a small tornado or landspout.
There were no immediate reports of injuries in Montebello. Cell phone video from the area showed portions of rooftops being ripped away in Montebello, and other debris swirling in an circular pattern in the air. Another video showed a funnel-like cloud forming above the area as rooftops are ripped away.
Additional video from the aftermath showed multiple vehicles in the parking lot of an affected building with heavy damage, including shattered windows and body damage from flying debris. Some vehicles appeared to have rear bumpers ripped away.
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