Tornado Touches Down East Of Downtown Los Angeles As Video Surfaces Of Possible Second Twister Near Santa Barbara – Update

UPDATED with the latest: The morning after the National Weather Service issued a Tornado Warning for Northwest Los Angeles and parts of Ventura County, videos began surfacing online of a short funnel reaching down toward a swirling cloud of debris on the ground about 50 miles away. Local (and national) TV news outlets were soon all over the incident, which took place in Montebello.

NWS confirmed that the tornado — whose strength has not yet been measured — hit around 11:20 a.m. Wednesday. The storm was focused in a largely industrial district, and Montebello Fire Department officials said that city inspectors examined 17 buildings in the affected area, and 11 of them were red-tagged, or marked unsuitable for occupation. Fire authorities also said one person was injured.

More from Deadline

• Magic Mountain Closed For Second Straight Day Due To Threat Of Heavy Thunderstorms; Area Under Flood Watch As Rain Continues - Updated

• Los Angeles Braces For Worst Of Storm: Heavy Rain, Winds 45-50 MPH, "Extensive Street Flooding" Possible

• LAUSD Strike: Public Schools Officially Closed Tuesday As 60,000 L.A. Teachers & Campus Workers Stage Three-Day Walkout - Updated

Video from the scene shows portions of rooftops ripped off industrial structures and debris swirling in the air.

Per KTLA5, The Verdugo Fire Communications Center said the “weather incident” was reported a few minutes before 11:30 a.m. when they responded to the 1200 block of South Vail Street.

There was no Tornado Warning in place late Wednesday morning when the powerful winds hit Montebello. The National Weather Service’s Los Angeles office, based in Oxnard, confirmed early Wednesday afternoon that it will be sending a “survey team” to Montebello to assess the damage in response to “reports of possible tornado damage.”

The NWS also dispatched a team to the Carpinteria area, which suffered damage Tuesday evening that could have been the result of a small tornado or landspout. That seaside hamlet is much closer to the area covered by the alert the night before.

ABC News posted video this afternoon from Carpenteria that looked a lot like the footage from Montebello.

Shortly after the Montebello incident, the NWS issued an alert about “a strong thunderstorm near West Covina, moving northeast at 15 mph.” The statement indicated that “this thunderstorm is capable of producing a weak tornado or strong downburst winds.” The alert covered San Dimas, Glendora, West Covina, Pomona, Azusa, Claremont, Baldwin Park, Irwindale and Duarte, most of which are just to the east of Montebello.

According to the NWS, a landspout is technically a tornado, but causes less damage than the “typical” tornado. Landspouts are narrow and have a “spinning motion that originates near the ground.” A larger “supercell tornado” is identified by its defining “rotating updraft,” which is absent in landspouts.