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JOE BLACKBut the National Weather Service says it was a thunderstorm, not a twister, that startled Spring Hill residents.
SPRING HILL - When he switched channels on his television Friday, weather broadcasts told Willie Brown that there would be only minor storms and scattered showers.
"Yeah, if minor is a tree that falls on your house and hits your (air-conditioning system ), then, yeah, it was minor," said Brown, 62, who swears a tornado hit his house.
Heavy winds and rainfall cut through part of Spring Hill on Friday afternoon, downing trees and power lines throughout the area. People milled about the street looking at the damage, but no one reported any injuries.
Julie States, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Tampa, said the damage was caused not by a twister but by strong winds from a thunderstorm that blew through about 2 p.m.
"The radar didn't indicate a tornado," States said.
Residents in Brown's neighborhood, at the corner of Fish Cove and Linden drives, were convinced that what they experienced Friday afternoon was no mere gust of wind.
Brown's neighbor Lisa Hetherton, 43, said she was working on a crossword puzzle when her bathroom door was slammed by wind barreling through a doggy door.
She had expected to finish decorating a dress for a party being thrown for her son, who is about to go for basic training in the military.
Hetherton had red, white and blue bows to attach to the dress. She never got the chance.
After she went to see what was happening in the bathroom, she noticed that a large tree from her neighbor's yard had landed on her house and squashed part of her fence. Hetherton spent the next few hours on the telephone with relatives, neighbors and her insurance agency. But her biggest worry was the elaborate train set that was boxed up in the attic.
"This is nuts, I can't believe it," she said.
Brown said he was watching the third-round Wimbledon tennis match between Goran Ivanisevic and Lleyton Hewitt when he heard rumbling outside. He was rooting for Ivanisevic, who was attempting a comeback after years away from the tennis circuit. He never saw the end of the match.
The rumbling outside prompted him to switch to the news and wait to see the weather forecast. Minutes later, Brown's front door blew open and he was fighting to close it.
The storm knocked down about five trees in his yard; one crashed onto his garage. It knocked out his air conditioning, along with some roof shingles.
"It could have been worse, I guess. I just wish I could have had that nice relaxing afternoon," he said.
A few miles away, the Rev. Tim Coats was working on his sermon at the First Assembly of God on Spring Hill Drive when workers who had been laying sod in the yard came back into the church because of the weather.
They were talking when the noise intensified. When Coats went to the far end of the building by the youth ministry office, he saw the damage - the steeple had fallen in, leaving a gaping hole in the roof.
Church activities should continue as planned, he said. He said he hopes the roof can be fixed today. He also hopes to finish his sermon today, possibly at about the same time that Hetherton finishes up her dress alterations. Brown said he would catch the results of the tennis match, which Hewitt won in straight sets, sometime later on television.
"It changes your day. You think it'll start one way, but this just changed everything, Hetherton said.
- Joe Black can be reached at 352 754-6117 or jblack@sptimes.com