Florida storms produce tornadoes, wind damage

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A strong line of storms which passed across the Florida Peninsula Thursday morning produced a tornado in Fort Myers and wind damage in some inland counties. 

Weather expects say a possible tornado is believed to have struck at the Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park in Okeechobee County.  The National Weather Service says park biologists had reported flipped campers and uprooted trees.  

About eight miles from that location, the Okeechobee County Sheriff's Office said some homes were also damaged, just north of Ft. Drum.  

"We have found approximately over a dozen homes that have been completely destroyed. Fortunately, we have found nobody who has been seriously injured or hurt at this point," said  Sheriff Noel Stephen during an afternoon news conference.  "There had been missing people at both locations.  Everybody has been identified and located at this point."

The Florida Highway Patrol also reported multiple accidents along the Florida Turnpike during the peak of the storms.  No one was seriously injured in those accidents on the turnpike.  

Elsewhere in Okeechobee County, WPTV-TV reports that one person was taken to Lawnwood Regional Medical Center in Fort Pierce.  

"By the grace of God," Sheriff Stephen said, "no one died."