Deadly Tornado Claims 14 Lives in Florida

Posted for reports from Lady Lake, Florida; Storms carrying the state's deadliest tornado in a decade cut a path across central Florida early Friday, killing at least 14 people, damaging hundreds of homes and littering fields with clothes, furniture and splintered lumber.

Searchers moved through the four-county region, using spray paint to mark what they found in husks of buildings while residents who had startled out of bed came back to look for friends or loved ones and salvage anything that wasn't blown apart.

Among the deaths were two high school students.

Dozens of mobile homes were destroyed near Lady Lake in Lake County, about 50 miles northwest of Orlando. Chairs, beds and clothes were strewn about yards, with debris hanging from trees. Some homes were tossed from their foundations, while others had their roofs ripped off.

"I'm not going to be able to live here, but it could have been worse," said Lady Lake trailer park resident Tammy Peace. "All of this can be replaced, but life can't be."

The Lady Lake Church of God was demolished, its pews, altar and Bibles left in a jumbled mess. The 31-year-old, steel-reinforced structure was built to withstand 150-mph winds, the Rev. Larry Lynn said.

By daybreak, parishioners gathered amid the ruins, hugging each other and consoling Lynn. They planned to clear the debris and hold Sunday services on the empty lot.

"That's just the building. The people are the church. We'll be back bigger and stronger," Lynn said.

The storms moved across Sumter and Lake counties around 3:15 a.m., then to Volusia County, where 69 homes and a county medical clinic were damaged, authorities said.

"Our priority today is search and rescue," Gov. Charlie Crist told reporters in Tallahassee as he declared a state of emergency in four counties.

In The Villages, one of the nation's largest retirement communities, Lee Shaver said he shielded his wife Irene with his body while huddling in a closet as the roof peeled off their home. Fence posts launched as projectiles were embedded into the wall of their home, Irene Shaver said.

"Every muscle and bone in my body shook," said Lee Shaver, 54. "We don't know what to do. We have no cell phones, wallets, IDs."

Many homes were turned into rubble along Lake Mack. Vern Huber, 87, said his weather radio went off around 3:30 a.m. and he and his wife, Louedna, 81, huddled in the hall and put pillows from the couch on top of themselves.

"It was a deafening roar," Huber said.

Determining the exact number of dead could take days, state emergency management chief Craig Fugate said.

Lake County spokesman Christopher Patton confirmed the 14 known deaths - 11 in Paisley and three in Lady Lake. Two of the victims, one boy and one girl, were high school students. Their names were not released, and no further details were available on the other fatalities.

The storms moved across the area about 3:15 a.m., the weather service said.

"The most dangerous tornado scenario is a threat for killer tornadoes at night, and that was the case," said Dave Sharp, a

At least five crashes took place within a quarter mile of each other near Interstate 4's New Smyrna Beach exit, closing the highway for about three hours.

In one case, a tractor-trailer was lifted up and landed on another semi, pinning the driver in his cab, said Kim Miller, a spokeswoman with the Florida Highway Patrol. The driver did not suffer life-threatening injuries, she said.

About 10,000 customers were without power across a wide swath of central Florida, Progress Energy spokeswoman Cherie Jacobs said.

The state Emergency Operations Center was activated, said Mike Stone, spokesman at the state's Department of Emergency Management. Several counties opened shelters for those who lost their homes.

Florida hasn't seen such a devastating tornado since February of 1998, according to records.

Reports and interviews are provided by:

Associated Press writers Curt Anderson, Damian Grass, Suzette Laboy and Adrian Sainz in Miami, Stephen Majors in Tallahassee and Ron Word in Paisley contributed to this report. National Weather Service meteorologist in Melbourne.