15 year anniversary of downtown Miami Tornado

MIAMI – Saturday marks the 15th anniversary of the tornado that struck downtown Miami. 

Little Havana, downtown Miami, Biscayne Bay and Miami Beach were hit as the tornado cut an 8 mile long path as it moved east northeast at 20-25mph around 2pm on May 12th, 1997. 

The tornado was rated a F-1 with estimated winds between100-110 mph.  It was 30-150 yards wide during its path across Miami-Dade county.  The result was $525,000 in damage and 12 people injured.

At the time Don Noe and Todd Tongen were tracking the storm at WPLG.  Check out the coverage here.