A severe thunderstorm rolled through just before first pitch, washing out Tim Tebow's St. Lucie Mets debut at First Data Field.
Less than 30 minutes before first pitch, the skies opened up.
"Look Wil!" Tina Europe told her husband, Wil Europe.
"It's coming down in sheets!" Wil said.
"It's a storm," she said.
"A whirlwind of rain hitting you in the face," Tebow fan Matthew Callahan, 15, said. "Trying to run away from it but it caught up."
"It was coming down so hard I felt like it was going through my skin," said Christian O'Kelly, 18.
"It was worse than Hurricane Matthew," Meghan Detro, from West Palm Beach said. "We're going to call it 'Hurricane Tebow.'"
It sent a woman to the hospital after falling on flooded areas near the locker room and dugout.
Hours before scheduled first pitch, it was Tebow talking, Tebow stretching, Tebow hitting-under optimistic skies, ready for optimistic fans.
"This one's pretty. It says St. Lucie on it," said 11-year-old Cameron Pierce, from Kentucky, picking out a Tebow jersey. "I'm a big football fan and I like Tebow overall."
Fans flooded through the gates at 5:30 p.m.. Just after 6 p.m., the storm arrived with thundering force.
The game would later be canceled. Some fans got a rain check.
"Show your ticket, you're good to go," said West Palm Beach woman Ashley Taylor, who was at the ticket counter, exchanging today's for tomorrow.
Others missed their only opportunity.
"Disappointed because I gotta go back to North Carolina tomorrow, 630 miles away. We don't get to see Tebow," said Bubba Hartsell, who was with his Victoria and two young kids, Madeline and Chance.
They got a full refund.
