DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — Residents at a senior community in Delray Beach said they heard what sounded like a train when a tornado tore through their neighborhood.
Brian Kaufman and Della Ryman told WPTV they were at home Tuesday night watching baseball and waiting out Hurricane Ian when they heard the loud noise.
"All of a sudden I felt something and then I heard like a train coming right through the house in this direction, and I started to scream because I have a bad leg," Ryman said. "It was very, very difficult for me to run toward him."
Another resident, Diane Saul, said she was "scared to death."
"I was in the house and you could hear this," she said. "You could hear the tornado go by. And then it blew out my window in my bedroom, and then there was a flash and the power went off, and that was it."
Saul compared the sound to a "freight train."
"It was awful," she said.
Kaufman, who is originally from New York, concurred.
"I worked for the subway system," he said. "I know what a train sounds like. That was a train coming right through."
Palm Beach County Fire Rescue said two people were taken to a hospital and more than two dozen residents were displaced.
An aerial view from Chopper 5 the next morning showed the extent of the damage, with roofs completely or partially torn off buildings and vehicles overturned.
GALLERY: Chopper 5 view shows damage to Kings Point
"That's life-changing right there," Chopper 5 reporter Johann Hoffend said as he surveyed the damage from above.
WPTV reporter Ashleigh Walters said she saw about 20 vehicles damaged and a dumpster tossed upside down.
The National Weather Service later verified that the damage was caused by a tornado.
There was also damage to a nearby Home Depot on Jog Road. Shopping carts were strewn about the parking lot, a large tree was uprooted, and several others were snapped and toppled over.
