WELLINGTON, Fla. — Just two weeks after an EF3 tornado ripped through Rustic Ranches in Wellington, WPTV’s Wellington reporter, Michael Hoffman, walked the wreckage with the first crew of first responders to get boots on the ground.
The clean-up process continues, just two weeks after those terrible twisters.
“Out first obstacle was power lines over the entire road,” said firefighter paramedic John Hartman, “which made entry very tricky. FPL had to shut down the whole grid.”
WATCH: Palm Beach County Fire Rescue respond to tornado
“I remember coming down Southern Boulevard and looking in the side mirror and see a tornado cross Southern behind us, as we were heading westbound,” recalled Hartman. “I was thinking, are there going to be more? But that’s part of our job sometimes. Forego our own safety to help the others in the community.”
Lt. Andrew Lombardo and Hartman have more than three decades of experience between them, and still they said the will never forget that day.
“There were people all over the road,” said Lombardo. “From people that were just crying and upset to people that were injured more.”
But now, they said what started as a dark memory has now changed after seeing how far the cleanup has gone.
“Unfortunately it was a very sad, dark memory,” said Lombardo. “And this is actually almost joyful to see how quickly it’s been rebuilt.”
“Just thinking to myself it’s going to be a very long time before any of this is normal,” said Hartman. “And now here we are what? Two weeks? Two and a half weeks later and other than seeing the trucks down there, you’d think this is just another day in Palm Beach County.”
They said they’ll never forget that day, but today, they’re back at work and ready for the next one.
