Landspout sends debris flying in Fort Myers

A landspout whipped through Fort Myers near Colonial Boulevard and I-75 on Thursday, sending debris flying and alarming residents as strong winds swept through the area.

"It was like a big, like a swirl and just like going off like, with a bunch of papers," said Citlali Capistran, a Fort Myers resident. "It was just like a lot of wind, like all the trees moving. And I just, like, went up like that and then just disappeared."

Another resident, Kiara Delgado, described the scene while in her car. "Just seen, like, trash flying around. And then I was with my passenger, and she was like, oh, there's like a little tornado. And it was like everything was spinning and you could look up and it just looked like a whole bunch of trash just flying around," she said.

Delgado added that her friend was frightened during the event. "My friend was really scared. My friend was like, what's going to happen? We could die if there's actually a tornado forms right here. And I'm like, it's going to be okay," she said.

William Quintero, who owns a fireworks stand in the area, said he felt the wind from inside his RV trailer. "When I came out, I noticed that this pole was coming down because the strap had busted. So in the middle of the storm, I get her to help me hold the pole, because now the roof was caving in from the weight of the water," he said.

Quintero also described the impact of the storm on his business. "All the walls were, like, blowing up and down. I mean, it was. It was pretty bad. It was all flooded onto here. We had tried to prepare by bringing in rock and lifting us up a little bit, but there was so much water," he said.

No injuries were reported during the incident.