At least 9 hurt after suspected tornado touches down on Georgia military base
A suspected tornado tore through a Georgia military base, sending multiple people to the hospital, officials said.
Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay said it also received reports of damage to buildings and an on-base RV park when storms rolled through at about 6 p.m. Wednesday.
Nine people were taken to a southeast Georgia hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, and others may have been treated on the scene, said Ashley Berumen, public affairs assistant for Submarine Group Ten.
“There has been no damage to any sensitive military asset or submarine,” and all personnel from the RV park were accounted for, the military installation wrote on Facebook. Twelve RVs were damaged, Berumen told McClatchy News.
Kings Bay is near the coast and St. Marys, roughly 40 miles north of Jacksonville, Florida.
The area was under a tornado warning on Wednesday night as forecasters predicted potential risks from Tropical Storm Elsa and the base urged people to seek shelter.
At Kings Bay, radar confirmed that a tornado touched down close to the “heavily damaged RV park,” according to a preliminary storm report from the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration. The National Weather Service was expected to survey the area.
Photos shared with news outlets show broken tree limbs and flipped RVs in the area. Sergio Rodriguez said he saw a “surreal” scene and rushed to check on his friend, who ended up being out of town, WJXT reported.
“I feel great that my friend is OK,” Rodriguez said, according to the TV station. “Just so happened that he’s already left and not here.”
The tornado warning near the base expired on Wednesday night as Elsa continued its path toward the Carolinas.
“While the situation here is still very dynamic, I want to thank all of our first responders and Camden County first responders for their quick actions,” Capt. Chester Parks, Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay commanding officer, said Wednesday in a Facebook post. “Their quick response most certainly helped.”
It’s not the first time weather-related injuries have been reported near the military base.
In December 2018, four people were hurt when an EF-3 tornado brought winds up to 144 mph, The Florida Times-Union reported.
This story was originally published July 8, 2021 at 12:40 PM.
