Staff report
Mother Nature delivered her version of shock and awe Monday night, flinging hundreds of lightning bolts across the county and leaving nearly 2,000 local homes without power.
Traffic lights in downtown Salisbury were knocked out briefly while residents across the county dealt with downed power lines and trees.
The storm moved northward from Cabarrus County, hovering over U.S. 29 and Interstate 85, to Spencer and East Spencer, before turning eastward and dumping heavy rain as the cells moved across High Rock Lake.
Some areas got between 1 and 3 inches of rainfall.
Shortly after the worst of the storm passed, Duke Energy reported 1,967 Rowan customers without power.
Just after 8:30 p.m., Salisbury Police Department’s radio went down for a few seconds. County Emergency 911 system operators advised firefighters, emergency medical service and others to keep radio traffic to a minimum.
Radio traffic included a tree down on a mobile home on Shane Drive. All the occupants escaped uninjured.
Reports of lines down included: 385 Little Creek Drive, Willow Oak Drive, Brown Acres Drive and U.S. 52, Wildwood Drive and East Lafayette Street,
As the storm moved east across the county at 9 p.m. several fire departments responded to a smoke alarm at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church. It turned out to be a false alarm.
Other fire departments across the county responded to similar automated alarms apparently triggered by the storm.
Television weather radar reported more than 22,635 lightning strikes across Rowan County from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Another wave of storms coming from the west moved across the county, bringing more rain and lightning.