A tornado touched down 11 miles outside of Los Angeles, California, Wednesday morning, the strongest in 40 years.
Though it was a small event compared to some we’ve seen across the U.S. it was the strongest tornado to hit Los Angeles County since 1983, according to the National Weather Service. NWS immediately issued a statement following the event, which appeared to strike the Montebello neighborhood of the sprawling megalopolis.
“A small tornado briefly touched down in an industrial park and warehouse district in Montebello in the late morning hours of Wednesday, March 22, 2023. Seventeen structures were damaged, eleven significantly. A tree was uprooted and a power pole was snapped with the transformer ripped off,” NWS stated.
🚨#BREAKING: Damaging Tornado touches down near downtown Los Angeles
Watch as a extremely rare damaging tornado touches down in Montebello California about 8 miles from downtown Los Angeles as Debris flies in the air the air reports of multiple… pic.twitter.com/FkP4oBWzPt
— R A W S A L E R T S (@rawsalerts) March 22, 2023
The tornado ranked as an EF1 (weak: 86 to 110mph) by NWS standards. But the force was enough to cause an almost total roof collapse in one building, and ejected the HVAC unit from another. A power pole was also snapped in the chaos, and 11 structures have been red-tagged due to significant damage. (RELATED: ‘Above Normal’ Weather Forecasts Issued For US Throughout Spring)
Tornado hits south maple ave in Montebello tearing the roof off multiple buildings and destroying multiple cars pic.twitter.com/yJrbuPMccj
— SaveArtsakh (@njtehcherchian) March 22, 2023
Videos of the tornado were shared widely across social media. One such video was incredibly close to the twister, showing debris getting ripped from various buildings and rain down on the surrounding area. One person was reportedly injured, but no information was provided on their condition, according to the New York Post.