Weather Service confirms 2 tornadoes during deadly Charlotte-area storms, NWS says
Two EF-1 tornadoes with 110 mph winds uprooted and snapped dozens of trees on their miles-long paths west of Charlotte during Wednesday’s deadly storms, National Weather Service meteorologists said Thursday.
One of the tornadoes crossed Interstate 85 and the South Fork Catawba River, an NWS damage survey team found.
Gaston County bore the brunt of the destruction, according to an NWS public information statement Thursday that detailed the paths of the tornadoes.
The tornadoes caused no injuries or deaths, according to the NWS report.
The National Weather Service Enhanced Fujita Scale ranks tornadoes from 0 to 5 on wind speed and damage, with 5 being the most destructive.
22-mile tornado
The first tornado touched down at 3 p.m., a mile northwest of Polkville in Cleveland County, and traveled 22 miles through Cherryville in Gaston County before lifting in woods at 3:44 p.m., an NWS storm damage survey team found.
The tornado uprooted and snapped numerous trees in the Lawndale and Fallston areas of Cleveland County before intensifying and uprooting dozens more trees through Cherryville, according to the NWS.
Tornado crossed I-85 and river
The second tornado touched down at 3:40 p.m. 3 miles west of Gastonia and sped east, crossing U.S. 321 near the I-85 interchange and reaching peak intensity, NWS meteorologists said.
“Several buildings sustained minor roof damage, multiple power poles were snapped and numerous trees were uprooted or snapped,” according to the NWS statement.
The tornado sliced more trees before crossing I-85 into east Gastonia and damaging a warehouse roof. The twister moved through the Lowell area, crossed the South Fork Catawba River and downed more trees in Belmont.
The tornado traveled a total of 8.2 miles before lifting in the Springwood community, according to the NWS.
Homes and buildings were damaged in areas where the second tornado struck, Charlotte Observer reporters found at the scene Thursday.
Trees also toppled onto homes, NWS meteorologist Thomas Winesett told The Charlotte Observer, but he didn’t know how many homes were damaged.
Fatalities during the storms
Storms that hit the region starting Wednesday resulted in a death that day in the Belmont area of Gaston County when a tree fell on a vehicle, WSOC reported.
And a death occurred early Thursday when a woman driving too fast for weather conditions crashed in Caldwell County, the State Highway Patrol reported.
Shelter opens in Gaston County
A Gaston County state of emergency will remain through at least noon Friday, county spokesman Adam Gaub said.
At 2:30 p.m. Thursday, the percentage of Gaston County residents and businesses without power dropped from over 40% to just below 24%, he said.
The Citizens Resource Center, 1303 Dallas-Cherryville Highway in Dallas, now has power and will be used by the Red Cross as an emergency shelter for displaced residents, Gaub said. The shelter was expected to open Thursday afternoon.
Work continued in the county to clear trees, debris and downed power lines, and a number of side roads remained closed, Gaub said.
Storms hit fast in Gaston
Karen Pace and her grandson had plans to spend Wednesday together. Then the clouds turned dark.
Racing toward her home on Spencer Mountain Road, Pace carefully avoided downed power lines to get her and her grandson home.
When she pulled up, she saw a tree in her front yard had fallen on her husband’s truck.
“Thank God it wasn’t the house,” Pace said on Thursday, as she cleaned up branches around her yard. “I’m thankful no one was hurt.”
Workers were busy chopping up the tree, trying to free her husband Dan’s truck. The windshield was smashed and the hood dented, but the damage didn’t appear to be too extensive on the outside.
In the backyard of the home, more trees toppled over from the powerful winds. One of the larger trees had its root system upended.
While the storm ruined their family plans Wednesday, Pace’s family was able to go to Lincolnton afterward to eat pizza and celebrate that no one was hurt.
“It could have been a lot worse,” Pace said.
Billy Leonhardt, who co-owns Allen’s Mobile Home and RV Superstore on North Chester Road in Gastonia with his wife, said it was discouraging to see the damage to his business.
A power line came down and pierced the top of the store’s roof — a roof he just had replaced last week.
He said he was able to file a claim with insurance for the storm damage, but he’s still feeling frustrated about the lack of communication from the city about utilities.
Because of the hole in the roof, he used a kiddie pool to help redirect the water outside, Leonhardt said.
His stepson, Jordan Jackson, said that although damage could have been a lot worse, he is worried about how it could impact business.
“We’re more concerned with customer service than profits, so we hope customers come back when we’re up and running,” he said.
Milan Patel was working at Ganesha Food Mart, the Gastonia business he’s owned for 18 years, when the storm arrived Wednesday.
A customer came in to escape and asked for cigarettes.
The customer handed him a $20 bill, but Patel couldn’t give him change since his power was out. The customer told him to keep it. Patel said he planned to pay him back the next time he sees him.
He’s filed a claim with insurance, which he said should cover the damage and the revenue lost from closing the business a couple of days, but he wants to open again as soon as possible.
Many customers who heard about the damage visited him Thursday to give him a hug, he said.
Observer photographer Melissa Melvin-Rodriguez contributed to this story.
