A sudden and fierce windstorm hit the Centergate Plaza on Bee Ridge Road about 3 p.m. today and "started turning everything sideways," one witness said.
The gusty winds splintered several trees, turned over shopping carts and ripped the awning off of the Publix grocery store. A woman in the parking lot was walking to her car with an umbrella in one hand while pushing a shopping cart when she was thrown to the ground, according to a Publix employee who would not give his name.
A paramedic happened to be walking in the plaza and ran over to help the woman.
Meanwhile, other shoppers and workers went running for cover.
At Backstage Hair Design, Matt Lofthouse quickly pulled his door closed and watched as the winds shook the windows and rolled through the parking lot for about 15 seconds.
"It didn't last that long," Lofthouse said, "but it was the most incredible thing you've ever seen. I just pulled the doors shut and waited for it to pass."
Paramedics took the woman to Doctors Hospital, which is across the street, but did not release her name or condition.
Workers were picking up dozens of branches outside the Publix, which remained open for business and did not lose power.
Witnesses described the storm as a tornado, but the National Weather Service said that is highly unlikely.
The storm was probably something called a mezzo low - a small area of low pressure that forms along a storm front in the Gulf of Mexico.
Ernie Jillson, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said a mezzo low moved onshore on Siesta Key Tuesday afternoon, creating a 5- to 10-mile swath where winds were up to 50 mph.
The low went onshore on Siesta Key and traveled east across Interstate 75, Jillson said.
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