An EF1 tornado with winds up to 105 miles per hour struck in Rowan and Davie counties on Saturday, according to preliminary assessments by the National Weather Service.
Investigators for the weather service office in Greenville-Spartanburg, S.C., conducted a storm survey in the area this afternoon. A final assessment from the survey will be completed late this evening or early Monday morning.
Preliminary assessment of the damage indicates that an EF1 tornado on the Enhanced Fujita Scale hit the area from 5 miles north of downtown Salisbury near U.S. Highway 601 to Point Road in southeast Davie County, the weather service said in a statement.
Maximum winds reached 105 miles per hour. The tornado track length was 3.5 miles long with an average width of 100 yards, and damage was intermittent along the path.
The storm, which moved through between 12:30 and 1 p.m., damaged about 20 homes in the area as it tore apart roofs, shattered windows and brought down nearby trees. Large trees also toppled onto utility poles, blocking a few roads and causing power outages for at least 6,000 Duke Energy customers in Rowan County. As of 6 p.m. today, about two dozen remained without power.
Local emergency officials are asking that individuals who do not live in the areas affected by the wind storm along U.S. 601 and Old Mocksville Road avoid the area to allow utility crews and others to complete their work.
Early Sunday, many onlookers began travelling through the two areas causing traffic congestion and safety concerns, according to a statement released today by Rowan County Emergency Services Director Frank Thomason.
“Utility crews are in these areas attempting to restore power and other needed services as quickly as possible.” Thomason said. “In particular, in the hardest hit area of the Farrington Meadows subdivision off Old Mocksville Road, we are asking citizens that do not live or are working with the restoration process to please stay out of the area. The additional traffic created by onlookers is causing traffic and safety issues for crews there.”
Across the state, the death toll from a swath of tornadoes reached at least 17, according to the Associated Press.
Authorities confirmed 10 deaths in Bertie County; three members of the same family dead in a Wake County trailer park; and single deaths in Cumberland and Harnett counties. Gov. Beverly Perdue has also said fatalities were reported in Bladen and Lee counties.
Perdue said today that state emergency management officials told her more than 20 were killed by the storms in North Carolina. However, the far-flung damage made it difficult to confirm the total number of deaths.
The National Weather Service said 23 died in the state, including one in Johnston County, but an emergency management chief there told the Associated Press nobody was killed in that area.