Tornado touches down in San Benito County

It’s now confirmed that a tornado did touch down in San Benito County. It’s been 30 years since anything like that has happened in the area. The National Weather Service classified this tornado as an Ef-Zero. It touched down shortly before 9AM Wednesday morning and while it was only on the ground for a short period of time, it still did some damage.

It came out of the dark El Nino sky.

“It was strong winds that came from that side to this side and picked up the roof,” said Eyewitness Gerardo Gonzales.

The last recorded tornado in San Benito County was on March 11th, 1985, back when the average home price was just over 100-thousand and Madonna ruled the music charts.

“It’s very rare. The tornado only touched down intermittently. It had maximum air speeds at about 75 miles per hour,” said San Benito Emergency Service Manger Kevin O’Neill.

“It’s believed that the tornado first touched down right here, then traveled three-quarters of a mile south before hitting the road and stopping.”

“There was no one here, we were all looking thru the window at all the damage the wind was doing,” said Gonzales.

The roofs on two out-buildings and a fence were destroyed in the tornados path of destruction.

“I went to go hide, because i was a little scared, i thought this was going to tumble down, but it got stuck in the tree instead,” said Gonzales.

No one in the area was reported hurt.

“Anytime a tornado touches down in an agricultural field verses a highly populated area we will call it a win,” said O’Neill.

Despite being a rare event, manager O’Neill says his department and first responders in the area are equipped to handle all kinds of emergencies, even tornadoes.