Tornados Slam Florida Airports

Powerful twisters spawned by Hurricane Ian damaged or destroyed many airplanes at airports unlucky enough to be in the powerful storm’s path

Hurricane Ian damage
Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • Tornados, stemming from Hurricane Ian, caused catastrophic damage at multiple Florida airports.
  • Dozens of light planes were extensively damaged, ripped from their tiedowns, flipped, and many landed on other aircraft.
  • North Perry Airport, located north of Miami, was likely the hardest hit facility.
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Tornados ripped through at least two Florida airports home to dozens of light planes tied down outside, and the damage was catastrophic. While numbers of damaged planes aren’t available yet, that number appears to be in the dozens, as planes were ripped from their tiedowns and flipped over, with many landing on other planes.

The hardest hit was probably North Perry, located just north of Miami. The small airport was home for many years to Daher before it opened a state-of-the-art facility in Pompano Beach.

Video from several sources showed the damage, and while Ian has been a terrible storm, coming ashore in southwest Florida near Fort Myers as a Category 5 storm, its destruction continued as it headed northeast, dropping record amounts of rainfall on the state.

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