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Well, we went to the Cayo District to speak to those affected, and they say that what hit them can't be described as anything else. Daniel Ortiz Reports:

Daniel Ortiz reporting
The roof of this building on the compound at Plett's Home Building was not torn off during Hurricane Earl. It was torn on Sunday afternoon when a when a twister-like storm hit the Spanish Lookout Community. The residents swear that it was a tornado.

Ronnie Plett - Manager, Plett Home Builders
"It came by on Sunday afternoon. We had a storm come by and went through the area very quickly and had a number of roofs destroyed. It just tore the whole roof right off the building and threw it about 1,000 feet over to the neighbor's front yard. It just came out of nowhere and it followed about a mile wide. I haven't spoken to anybody specifically who saw the actual twister going by, but it was just an isolated area - one strip of houses and barns that lost their roof and got damaged."

Across the street, the twister-like storm hit the home of Dueck family. It sent the roofing boards of this shed through their bedroom walls, piercing it like javelins.

Bernard Dueck - Affected by the Twister
"My wife heard a big bang and she came out if her room and she said left leave this house because this house will fly away and then we went to look outside and we saw a lot of breeze and zinc flying. We thought that it was not safe outside but by the time we made a decision it was over. We went into the room and saw two board sticking through the wall and then went and check on a little shack we had for the sheep."

About a half a mile away, the twister completely tore the roof off Dueck's barn, costing him about 10 thousand dollars in damages. We found workmen finishing up the work to replace the roof completely, but stray sheets of zinc held to show what had happened here.

Eddie Dueck - Affected by the Twister
"Just notice that there was a storm and then later I notice that the roof went off from the barn."

Daniel Ortiz
"Was it complete torn off?"

Eddie Dueck - Affected by the Twister
"Yes."

The Chief Met Officer has been very skeptical of past storms being called tornadoes, since those are native to the Midwestern United States. But, that can't convince these residents otherwise. They are sure that this freak storm was a tornado.

Daniel Ortiz
"We've encountered stories like this specifically in Crooked Tree area where people say they say this is a tornado and the meteorologist in Belize say no it cannot be. Those don't exist in Belize."

Ronnie Plett - Manager, Plett Home Builders
"Well I have seen a tornado on at least two different locations in the area, the actual twister, the whole tail and everything. We've had at least two of these go through the area in the last 3-4 years. One of them picked up a tank and carried it about two miles before it dropped on another person's house. We've lost a number of roofs before. One of the big things you will see with when these twisters come by, you will see a tree just being torn in half and it will grab a tree and just twist it until it breaks and falls to pieces and we've seen that on a number of occasions. So, for myself I am certain we've seen these before. Tornadoes have come through this area before."

Those homeowners affected were already in the process of putting their homes back together. We're told that one resident had his roof torn off during Hurricane Earl. He fixed it only to have this twister storm tear it off a second time in less than a month.