Tornado Damages 17 Buildings In Montebello, 1 Injured

MONTEBELLO, CA — A rare tornado touched down in Montebello Wednesday, injuring one and damaging 11 buildings so badly they had to be red-tagged.

The twister was unexpected, touching down hours after a tornado warning for Los Angeles expired.

Officials said the tornado developed fairly quickly as a strong storm cell pushed its way through the area. One person suffered minor injuries, according to the Montebello Fire Department.
Fire officials said city inspectors examined 17 buildings in the tornado-affected area, and 11 of them were red-tagged, or marked unsuitable for occupation.

The National Weather Service confirmed that the tornado — the strength of which has not yet been measured — hit around 11:20 a.m. Wednesday. The storm was focused generally in the area of Washington Boulevard and Vail Avenue, in a largely industrial district.

Several people took to social media Wednesday morning with reports and videos of the tornado ripping through the area, and picking up heavy debris.

One video posted to Twitter shows a tornado shredding the roof of multiple industrial buildings in Montebello and destroying vehicles in the area.

The National Weather Service's Los Angeles office, based in Oxnard, confirmed early Wednesday afternoon that it will be sending a "survey team" to Montebello to assess the damage in response to "reports of possible tornado damage."

Shortly after 8 p.m. Tuesday, the NWS issued a brief tornado warning for southwestern Los Angeles County and central Ventura County. At 8:17 p.m., "a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado was located over Point Mugu State Park, or 10 miles south of Camarillo, moving northeast at 35 mph," according to the agency.

The warning expired at about 8:30 p.m. Forecasters said the storm that prompted the warning had weakened below severe limits, and no longer appeared capable of producing a tornado.

According to the NWS, the chance of rain will diminish by Wednesday night, and conditions should dry out through the end of the week, and likely through the weekend. Forecasters said there could be another chance of light rain sometime between Monday night and Wednesday.

City News Service and Paige Austin contributed to this report.