Waterspout spins ashore, picks up patrol car

CARRABELLE — A waterspout briefly came ashore in northeast Franklin County on Thursday morning, spining around a patrol car, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

The waterspout came ashore about 7:40 a.m. EST as part of a storm system that's dropped nearly 2 inches of rain at the Panama City airport and more than 2.25 inches in Apalachicola, NWS reported.

The waterspout picked up and spun around the Carrabelle police cruiser on Airport Road in Carrabelle, the Tallahassee Democrat reported, but Officer Charles Richards was not injured.

The newspaper reported Richards was checking the Weather Channel on his computer when the wind picked up quickly; he couldn't see through all the flying debris. The car wobbled before spinning around and lifting off the ground slightly, he told the paper.

“It happened so fast,” Richards said. “I could feel the tires bumping on the ground, so I knew I wasn’t high up. I just hoped it wouldn’t take me up any higher.”

Aside from a bent antenna, the car was not damaged. The waterspout also split a tree in two.