Man's couch flies off 20th floor during tornado - WFLA-TV News Channel 8

Man's couch flies off 20th floor during tornado

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TAMPA - It's often breezy on the balcony of Ryan Luthor's 20th floor condo. He knows not to leave glass bottles or anything light outside. But after Tuesday's storm in Tampa, he never expected to look down from his balcony and see what was below.

"Thousands of dollars worth of furniture just everywhere," he said at the base of his Channelside tower Tuesday evening. "I saw the cushions out here. Some stuff ended up in the pool on the other side. It's ridiculous."  One of those couches was in the most unlikeliest of places: Atop the "Cruise Terminal 2" and "Harbour Island" street sign on Meridian Ave.  "That was concerning," Luthor said. "It's amazing nothing got hit."

The focal point of Tuesday's storm that caused damaged around Channelside and Harbour Island was the waterspout that came on land and turned into an EF 0 tornado. The wind gusted between 65 and 70 miles an hour, according to the National Weather Service.  "It was intense. I have branches on my balcony from trees - it must be down here - that got lifted all the way up there," Luthor said.

Bucket-truck crews had the couch off the sign by afternoon. Luthor spent Tuesday night getting what he could save back up to the 20th floor. He's not sure if insurance will cover the furniture the storm damaged.

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