Video: Tornado cuts down trees, breaks windows in Florida home

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – A Florida family captured the terrifying moments as a massive tornado ripped through their Palm Beach County neighborhood Wednesday as part of a tornado outbreak sparked by Hurricane Milton.

Footage shows the twister gutting palm trees and kicking up debris in the backyard of his Palm Beach Gardens home.

“Oh my God!” A woman can be heard saying off camera.

Tornado destroys backyard in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

(Robert Hubert via Storyful/FOX Weather)

As the wind increases and radically changes direction as the tornado passes through, the patio door breaks.

The National Weather Service in Miami gave the tornado a preliminary rating of EF-3 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, with estimated peak wind speeds of 140 mph. However, the agency said its storm survey is still incomplete and the assessment could adjust as it learns more about the damage.

The death toll from Hurricane MILTON is rising as Florida picks up the remnants of the storm's destruction

The rating is significant, especially since less than 1% of tornadoes caused by hurricanes receive such a high rating, according to FOX weather meteorologist Stephen Morgan.

“These tornadoes were more energetic because Milton was in the process of becoming a non-tropical system,” Morgan said.

He found that the jet stream added energy to the hurricane before Milton made landfall. There was also dry air that was rising and rotating. Overall, these were elements that were commonly observed in a spring tornado outbreak.

“All of those elements put together – seeing something like that with a landfalling hurricane is just not something you see,” he added.

The destruction caused by the tornado was captured by FOX weather meteorologist Kendall Smith, reporting from Palm Beach Gardens Friday morning.

She noted the tornado's power when it tore down a motorized gate at the entrance to a neighborhood, tossed furniture from a home's living room into the backyard and showed palm trees uprooted and toppled across paths.

“The scenes of devastation are much more reminiscent of what we would see on the plains,” she said.

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On Thursday, the National Weather Service confirmed that Milton has spawned at least five tornadoes, with the number likely to rise as 126 tornado warnings were issued Wednesday – the most nationwide warnings in a day.

Along with the tornadoes it caused, Milton caused at least 17 deaths across Florida.