The wind tore off the sign outside the Garr Learning Center, located on Gage and Vermont avenues, said owner Gerae Vernon. The sign spun in the wind and crashed into a window, shattering the glass and scaring the 21 children inside.

“Heavy rain, storm, winds, earthquakes – I’m used to that,” Vernon said. “I had never seen anything like this before.”

It wasn’t the only tornado to blow into Southern California. Elsewhere Friday, a Mark Tarzian shot video of what appeared to be a waterspout touching down off Crystal Cove Beach in Newport Beach.

That waterspout was likely in the same band of storm cells as the tornado that hit South L.A., Boldt said. Such waterspouts are more likely in winter storms, Boldt said, but landspouts, or tornadoes, are not out of the question.

via Tornado touches down in South Los Angeles, damaging 5 homes – LA Times.