Severe Weather Hits South Florida

POSTED: Saturday, July 25, 2009

UPDATED: 6:25 am EDT July 26, 2009

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — Intense thunderstorms Saturday morning and early afternoon led to two structures being struck and damaged in South Florida.A home in northwest Miami-Dade at 165th Street and 30th Avenue was struck and a fire broke out in kitchen. The plumbing stack, a pipe sticking out of the roof, was hit. A neighbor down the street heard the thunder from the lightning, which she described as extremely loud.”It was the baddest lightning I’ve ever heard,” Penny Emanuel told Local 10′s Rob Schmitt Saturday afternoon.Emanuel saw smoke coming from the home and called 911. Firefighters quickly arrived and had to essentially destroy the homeowner’s kitchen to put the fire out and save the home. Nobody was home at the time of the fire.In Miramar, fire struck a Mobil gas station, causing severe damage to the roof of the convenience store. Although thousands of gallons of fuel were beneath the station, fire didn’t strike the pumps.