Sunset Beach, NC At least three people died when a possible tornado hit Brunswick County before midnight, leaving a trail of damage.
The Brunswick County Sheriff said the tornado struck between 11:30 p.m. Monday and 12 p.m. in the vicinity of Seaside Road and U.S. Highway 17. It was about 30 minutes on the ground.
More than 50 homes were damaged, most in the Ocean Ridge Plantation neighborhood in Ocean Isle Beach, where the three deaths and at least ten injuries were reported.
“I have seen devastation that I have not seen in many years,” Randy Thompson, chairman of the Board of Commissioners in Brunswick County, said during an afternoon conference. “It really was a disaster last night.”
Edward Conrow, director of emergency services in Brunswick County, said the investigation and rescue efforts were completed Tuesday morning and officials were doing damage evaluations.
Damage reports also included gas leaks, damaged commercial buildings and flat trees and power lines along U.S. 17 and Old Shallotte Road, Conrow said.
The National Weather Service confirmed that the spinner was an EF-3 tornado with winds up to 160 km / h. The tornado cut a road across Brunswick County and Columbus County.
The tornado was particularly dangerous because many people were asleep when the storm hit and had no time to prepare, Conrow said.
“We had very little warning,” he said, noting that the storm was already on the ground when the weather service alerted local authorities. “[Weather Service meteorologists] was very surprised at how quickly this storm increased. This is something they do not normally see. ‘
Brunswick County resident Kate Gentle, who lives five minutes from the tornado, told WRAL News she spent Monday night at her son’s lacrosse game and had no idea there would be a storm.
According to Gentle, when they got home, they experienced heavy, frequent thunderstorms and lightning. Then Gentle said, everything fell silent. She put her children in a closet and just before the tornado warning came through.
“You could see something was wrong,” she said.
Gentle’s family and home were damaged, but she said she was ‘sad’ for people in her community who were not so happy.
Rev. Dwight Reeves, pastor of Seaside Christian Fellowship, found that the roof had been ripped off his church Tuesday morning.
“It’s life – changing,” Reeves said of the storm. “You know things happen in life like this, but you never expect it to actually appear at your door this time. We always see other people with devastation in the area. To see it, I have more compassion for the people. “
Church member Scott Blackmon went to help with the cleaning on Tuesday morning after escaping unharmed during the night.
“The wind and the thunder increased with the lightning, and we lost power,” said Blackmon, who lives less than a mile from the church. “We heard the rumble, and we literally jumped into the bath like you hear on TV.”
Sheriff John Ingram asked people who are not property owners and who do not help victims, to avoid the area while the crew works to clear streets.
Conrow said the sheriff will set up access points to keep non-residents out of the Ocean Ridge area.
Corey Thurlow with Brunswick Electric Membership Corp. said the storm’s strength had caused major damage to the country’s transmission system by overturning poles and trees and hitting about 35,000 customers at its peak.
Thurlow recovered before 2 a.m. in front of about 10,000 members, but some interruptions will take place until Tuesday afternoon.
“Our priority is to restore power to all our members in our service area as quickly and safely as possible,” Thurlow said. “We think of the individuals who suffered loss as a result of these storms.”
According to the U.S. Census, there will be approximately 140,000 people living in Brunswick County in 2019.
The storm is part of the larger weather system that is causing brutally cold temperatures in much of the U.S., including a crippling ice storm that swept Texas, causing major power outages.