Storms damage homes in Pasco

Tom Maida listened to the wind and watched the rain fall sideways.

Then, it suddenly stopped.

A longtime Bay City, Mich., resident, Maida said he had seen tornadoes before. What happened next didn't surprise him, but it was enough to drive him inside his mobile home in Betmar Acres off State Road 54.

"It came right through here," Maida said. "It was quiet about 30 seconds, then all of a sudden it picked up and howled."

He pointed to the west.

"I saw the twister come right over me."

A large piece of a roof across the street flew into the air.

"It looked like part of it got caught up in those power lines for a little bit," Maida said from his car, where he was listening to news on the radio because the storm knocked out his power.

Large limbs were strewn across the street and several yards. Betmar Acres is a community for people 55 and older.

Rick Davis, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said trees in the area also were toppled by high winds just before 4 p.m. Still, he said, the storm did not cause "tornadic damage."

"We call it a downburst wind," Davis said, referring to heavy air pockets caused by thunderstorms.

Davis said funnel clouds also had been reported "in the Land O' Lakes area and farther north" in Pasco on Thursday afternoon.

Maida's neighbor, Betty Paul, said she didn't see or hear a tornado.

"The wind was really bad," she said. "The lights blinked off and on all afternoon. Some people saw a ball of lightning and heard a boom, but our (home) wasn't damaged."

The rough weather was part of a line of thunderstorms that swept in from the Gulf of Mexico.

More rain is forecast.

There's an 80 percent chance of rain today, along with a risk of severe weather. As much as 1 to 2 inches of rain could fall in some areas, the weather service says.

For the weekend, the rain will disappear. Skies will be sunny Saturday and Sunday, with highs in the lower 70s. Lows will be in the lower 50s.