VOLUME 3 ISSUE 11
April show at Brick City Center for the Arts MARCH 18 - MARCH 24, 2022
The “under the radar” tornado of March 12
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More opposition to the proposed northern turnpike extension
By Jennifer Hunt Murty jennifer@ocalagazette.com
S
trong early morning storms and one confirmed tornado caused severe damage to some areas of Marion County on Saturday morning, March 12. Although a tornado watch was issued at 3:30 a.m. by the National Weather Service (NWS), many residents are asking why there were no warnings issued as the storm touched down in the area. According to the latest updated report by the NWS, the tornado started at 7:45 a.m. and traveled 26.67 miles from downtown Dunnellon, through SW Ocala before ending just past Baseline Road near SE 8th Street Road at 8:20 a.m. Julie Danoski, records custodian for the city of Dunnellon, said city staff estimates the tornado started around the old Rockwell cemetery, uprooting old trees and gravestones before damaging a large billboard nearby. The NWS report estimates the tornado grew to 65 yards wide and had up to 110-mph peak winds. Officials categorized it as an EF1 tornado. Many Marion County residents have since wondered why they did not receive an AlertMarion text warning of the impending tornado. Paul Bloom, spokesperson for the Marion County Sheriff ’s Office, explained there were a few factors at play. First, the radar at the Jacksonville NWS office was “off-line as part of a scheduled maintenance,” he said, leaving Marion County with “radar coverage from their station in the Tampa area and one in Valdosta, GA.” Pete Wolf, Science & Operations Officer for the Jacksonville NWS office, said the station’s Doppler radar was down for a scheduled 10day period for maintenance updates. According to Wolf, the radar was installed in the mid-90’s and undergoes maintenance updates about once a decade. He said officials there try to schedule the maintenance to avoid Florida’s hurricane season while coordinating with other Doppler radars that can cover the area. The problem is, Wolf explained, even if the Jacksonville radar had been working, it would likely not have detected the tornado because it of the storm’s relatively small width and because it wasn’t associated with a super cell, which are See March 12, page A4
Downtown and the Rainbow river in Dunnellon on February 2. [Alan Youngblood/Special to Ocala Gazette] 2022.
By Rosemarie Dowell Correspondent
T
he proposed northern extension of the Florida Turnpike has yet another opponent and this time it’s a government agency tasked with managing and protecting the state’s critical water resources– the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD). Swiftmud, the district’s commonly known moniker, covers 16 counties in the southern half of the state, including all or parts of Citrus, Levy, Marion and Sumter counties, each of which would be impacted by at least one of the proposed routes. In a letter to Nicola Liquori, executive director of Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise, an arm of the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), the District said it was aware that all four of the proposed extension routes traverse District-owned conservation lands. Two of the proposed routes cut north through portions of southwestern Marion County, while a third is just inside the county line south of Marion Oaks. The fourth route impacts portions of Citrus and Sumter counties. “Any option that would bisect Districtowned conservation lands or sever District lands from other existing conservation lands would be inconsistent with the original intent behind the use of taxpayer dollars to acquire those conservation lands,” Brian Starford, Swiftmud’s director of operations, lands, and resources monitoring division, said in the Feb. 14 letter. “Also, bisecting District-owned conservation lands would adversely impact the District’s ability to manage those properties,” Starford wrote. “Therefore, the District cannot support proposed routes that bisect District-owned conservation land or otherwise severs District-owned conservation lands from other existing conservation lands,” the letter said.
The District said the purpose of the letter was to maintain communication between FDOT and the District….as well as memorialize the District’s position. The major district conservation lands jeopardized by the proposed routes include the Halpata-Tastanaki-Preserve, Potts Preserve, Half Moon-Gum Slough and Two Mile Prairie, according to data provided by Susanna Martinez Tarokh, the district’s public information officer. Located in Dunnellon, Halpata-Tastanaki Preserve is an 8,000-plus acre conservation area along the Withlacoochee River and includes a variety of native fauna and flora, Scrub Jay habitats and floodplain forests. Also along the Withlacoochee, the 8,500acre Potts Preserve has wetlands that play a role in both the Tsala Apopka Chain of Lakes
and the Withlacoochee River systems, part of the Floridan aquifer’s recharge/discharge system. Additionally, the Inverness site provides habitat to wildlife, including a small population of threatened Florida scrub jays. Half Moon-Gum Slough is located in Lake Panasoffkee in Sumter County, the Withlacoochee River, Gum Slough and Gum Springs Run are located adjacent to the property and were designated Outstanding Florida Waters in 1989. In Hernando in Citrus County, the 2,900-acre Two-mile Prairie, lies along the southern bank of the Withlacoochee River at the northern end of the Tsala Apopka Lake system. There may also be other smaller See Opposition, page A2
The Rainbow River on February 1. [Alan Youngblood/Special to Ocala Gazette] 2022.
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