An EF-1 tornado with winds reaching 90 mph touched down in Largo on Wednesday, catching residents off guard and raising questions about why no warning was issued.

Susan Haas was at home in the Bay Ranch Mobile Home Park when her dog Ollie began to tremble violently — a sign something was wrong. Moments later, chaos erupted.

“I looked outside and saw debris flying through the air,” Haas told WFLA. “My daughter kind of freaked out. I grabbed her and covered her with my body. Everything just kept flying by — it was too late to do anything.”

The National Weather Service confirmed the tornado touched down for six to seven minutes, carving a path just over two miles long. Though the experience felt much longer to those on the ground, forecasters say it happened quickly.

Matt Anderson, Science and Operations Officer for the NWS, said the tornado formed unexpectedly.

“Most of the time, boundary collisions don’t amount to much,” Anderson explained. “But in this case, there was likely some added low-level spin that allowed the boundaries to stretch and trigger a tornado.”

Residents like Haas say they never received an alert.

“Never got anything on the phone,” she said. “It happened so fast.”

Anderson acknowledged that by the time radar detected shallow rotation near MacDill Air Force Base, the tornado had already passed.

“The circulation was so low and shallow, it didn’t show up in time,” he said.

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(Image credit: WFTS)

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