Storms in NC and SC wipe out roads, damage homes
Published 12:02 am Wednesday, October 25, 2017
- JoAnn Perez, right, hugs friend Melissa Porter in front of her damaged home in Shelby, N.C., Monday, Oct. 23, 2017. Perez arrived home shortly after Monday's storms to see her home pushed away from its foundation. Her two dogs and cats were the only occupants when the storm hit. All three pets were uninjured. (Brittany Randolph/The Star via AP)
Associated Press
RALEIGH — A National Weather Service team confirmed Tuesday that two tornadoes touched down in South Carolina during an outbreak of severe weather that flipped tractor-trailers and small planes, washed out roads and left thousands without electricity.
The survey team from Greer, South Carolina, viewed damage in Cherokee and Spartanburg counties from Monday’s storms and said both places were hit by EF-2 tornadoes.
On the Enhanced Fujita Scale, an EF-2 tornado carries winds of between 111 mph and 135 mph.
Another survey team went to Cleveland County, North Carolina, to look at damage there, but results were not immediately available. In North Carolina, several stretches of the Blue Ridge Parkway were closed because of heavy rainfall.
A news release from parkway officials said several storm-related closures were still in effect Tuesday.
Park engineers are assessing the site for additional undercutting of the road and needed repairs. Officials for Chimney Rock State Park said on its website Tuesday that the wall at the top of a parking lot fell during Monday’s heavy rainfall.
The statement said some debris from the collapse was washed onto a road below. The park said the section will remain closed until further notice.
Stone Mountain State Park in Roaring Gap also was closed because of downed trees.
“You could hear it howl through downtown,” Michael Parsons told WXII-TV in Winston-Salem. His jewelry store in North Wilkesboro was damaged when a nearby roof blew off.
JoAnn Perez arrived home in Shelby shortly after the storms passed to see her home pushed off its concrete slab. Her dogs and cat inside were unharmed.
States of emergency were declared in Catawba County and the city of Hickory, where airplanes were flipped and two hangars damaged at Hickory Regional Airport. Daily rainfall records were reported in Asheville and Charlotte, as well as Greenville-Spartanburg in South Carolina.
Totals ranged from about 2 inches in Charlotte to more than 3.5 inches in Asheville.
Streets were underwater in Asheville and Boone.
As of 4 p.m. Tuesday, Duke Energy reported more than 54,000 customers were still without electricity. Of that total, 46,299 were in North Carolina and 7,908 were in South Carolina.
No deaths have been reported from the storms. Spartanburg Regional Hospital said it had treated eight people with minor injuries.
