MONTEBELLO, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 22: An aerial view of roof damage after a possible tornado touched down and ripped up building roofs in a Los Angeles suburb with the Los Angeles skyline in the distance on March 22, 2023 in Montebello, California. Another Pacific storm has been pounding California with heavy rain, high winds, and snow. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
An EF1 tornado tore through Montebello, California Wednesday morning, leaving one person injured. According to ABC7, roofs were ripped off of multiple industrial buildings and cars were also damaged.
According to the outlet, the National Weather Service confirmed that the tornado “touched down” in Los Angeles county on Wednesday around 11:20 a.m.
It was later confirmed that the tornado had an EF1 rating, and a “damage path” of about “50 yards wide.” According to National Weather Service, an EF1 rating features 3-second gusts of 86-110 mph winds.
According to ABC7, buildings were evacuated in the area. Additionally, an urban search-and-rescue team was dispatched to look for any individuals potentially trapped in the wreckage.
Montebello fire officials reported “only one minor injury” as a result of the tornado’s activity.
According to the outlet, inspectors checked 17 buildings in the area, and “red-tagged” 11. The term refers to when a “property or part of the property is not safe for occupancy in the present state,” as per SCGWest.
In addition, gas and electric companies were called to affected properties to inspect damaged utility lines.
In addition to the damaged utility lines, ABC7 also obtained helicopter footage of multiple buildings in the Montebello area. Many of the buildings, apparently, had displaced or collapsed, roofs due to the tornado’s winds.
According to the outlet, “large metal chunks” were tossed from the buildings into surrounding parking lots, damaging cars in the area.
One witness spoke with NBCLA.
“It felt like somebody was hitting the wall with iron bars. I saw trash flying around, trees falling down. Even our wrought iron gate is torn up. I’m just thankful no one was injured.”
ABC7 noted that the damage appeared to be centered around one building in particular, called the Royal Paper Box Company.
An employee of the company spoke with FOX 11 Los Angeles and recounted the moment the tornado hit the building.
“I was inside the building, and we have a window in the back of the building and somebody screamed ‘tornado!’ and I just started recording. Then I started to run when I noticed it was a real tornado; there was damage and everybody just started running. It felt like a bomb or something exploded, but then you see everything flying around, all the debris. It just felt weird, you’re not used to it.”
Onlookers in the area also submitted footage of the tornado to local news outlets in their area. Additionally, they also shared footage on social media. One Twitter user seemed to catch the tornado as it was picking up momentum.
While another recorded it from, what appears to be, an industrial area in Montebello.
According to NBCLA, meteorologist Ariel Cohen explained that tornadoes like the one that Montebello can form rather quickly, often with a warning.
“Typically, with the tornadoes that affect this area, they spin up very rapidly, unfortunately sometimes too rapidly to detect or warn for. It’s a very different character for the tornadoes that are occurring over the Central and Eastern United States, where there’s a much stronger signal and a slower duration in terms of how they come about to form.”
As reported by FOX 11 Los Angeles, the tornado that hit Montebello was the “strongest tornado to hit the LA Metro area since March 1983.”
According to the National Weather Service Los Angeles, an additional tornado touched down in Carpinteria, California on Wednesday. The area is approximately 95 miles away from Montebello. However, the scale of the tornado appeared to be less intense than the one that hit Montebello, with an EF0 rating.
According to National Weather Service, an EF1 rating features 3-second gusts of 65-85 mph winds.
