ASKEWVILLE, N.C. — A tornado-spewing storm system that killed at least 45 people across half the country unleashed its worst fury on North Carolina, where homes broke apart, trees snapped and livestock were swept into the air. Residents in the capital city and rural hamlets alike on Sunday mourned the dead, marveled at their own survival and began to clean up devastated neighborhoods.
Observers reported more than 60 tornadoes across North Carolina on Saturday, but most of the state’s 21 confirmed deaths occurred in two rural counties. A thunderstorm spawned a tornado that killed four people in southeastern Bladen County, then kept dropping tornadoes as it hopscotched more than 150 miles, eventually moving into Bertie County and killing 11 more.
Heavy winds swept some homes from their foundations, demolished others and flipped cars on rural roads between Askewville and Colerain, Bertie County Manager Zee Lamb said. At least three of those who died were from the same family, he said.
The winds ripped to shreds the double-wide mobile home in Askewville where Justin Dunlow had sought shelter for his 3-year-old daughter, 5-year-old son and himself. The 23-year-old roofer, whose own mobile home nearby also was destroyed, lay on both children as the storm did its worst.
“I just started praying, and the wall fell on top of us and that’s what kept us there,” he said. “I can replace the house, but I can’t replace my babies. And that’s what I thought about. I’m alive. My babies are alive.”
In Bladen County, Milton McKoy had thought his mobile home in Ammon was out of the storm’s path before he saw a tornado over the tops of pine trees, lifting pigs and other animals into the sky.
“It looked just like ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ ” said his wife, Audrey.
The couple took shelter in the laundry room as the tornado snapped trees and carried off several homes in the neighborhood. When they stepped out, it took them a moment to figure out the twister had turned their own home around, leaving them in the backyard.
The violent weather began Thursday in Oklahoma, where two people died, before cutting across the Deep South on Friday and hitting North Carolina and Virginia on Saturday. Authorities said seven people died in Arkansas; seven in Alabama; seven in Virginia; and one in Mississippi.
More than 240 tornadoes were reported from the storm system, including 62 in North Carolina.
By Sunday morning, the National Weather Service had declared that the severe thunderstorms were gone.
Saturday was North Carolina’s deadliest day for tornadoes since 1984, when 22 twisters killed 42 people and injured hundreds. The state emergency management agency said it had reports of 23 fatalities from Saturday’s storms, but local officials confirmed only 21 deaths with The Associated Press.
The conditions that allowed for the storm occur on the Great Plains maybe twice a year, but they almost never happen in North Carolina, according to Scott Sharp, a weather service meteorologist in Raleigh.
The atmosphere was unstable, which allows air to rise and fall quickly, creating winds of hurricane strength or greater. There was also plenty of moisture, which acts as fuel for the violent storms. Shear winds at different heights, moving in different directions, created the spin needed to create tornadoes, Sharp said.
In Virginia, local emergency officials reported seven storm-related deaths, said state emergency management spokesman Bob Spieldenner. He said the state medical examiner’s office confirmed two people died in Gloucester County, where a tornado hit; two died in flash flooding in Waynesboro; and one person died in Wythe County when a tree fell on a mobile home. Officials were still investigating a death in Page County and one more reported in Gloucester County.
The winds in Gloucester tossed Christie Mathews’ home at least 50 yards as she lay on top of her children in the bathtub, said her brother Randy Cook. The house was flung against several trees, preventing it from flying even farther.
“Everything in the house shattered and is flattened to the ground,” Cook said. He said Mathews broke two vertebrae and her boyfriend, who was also in the house, needed surgery. But her son and daughter escaped with only scratches.
In North Carolina, where Gov. Beverly Perdue declared a state of emergency, officials have tallied more than 130 serious injuries, 65 homes destroyed and another 600 significantly damaged, according to state public safety spokeswoman Julia Jarema. Officials expect those totals to climb as damage assessments continue.
Many of the deaths occurred in mobile homes. Census data from 2007, the latest available, estimates 14.5 percent of homes in North Carolina are mobile homes, the seventh-highest percentage in the nation and well over the U.S. average of 6.7 percent.
The devastation
Here is a look at six states hit hard by the storm system that produced more than 240 tornadoes.
NORTH CAROLINA: At least 21 were killed by Saturday’s storms that spawned about 60 tornadoes in the southeastern part of the state. One of hardest hit areas was Bertie County, where 11 people died. Gov. Beverly Perdue says federal aid is expected to help clean up the devastation that nearly brought her to tears. Saturday was North Carolina’s deadliest day for tornadoes since 1984, when 22 twisters killed 42 people and injured hundreds.
“I can replace the house, but I can’t replace my babies. And that’s what I thought about. I’m alive. My babies are alive.” — Askewville’s Justin Dunlow, who survived along with his two young children when winds ripped to shreds their mobile home.
VIRGINIA: At least seven have died — three in Gloucester County, where a tornado cut a 12-mile swath, uprooting trees, destroying homes and injuring dozens. The tornado ripped the roof off Page Middle School and overturned school buses and cars.
Flooding also is a problem. Flash flooding killed two Waynesboro residents, and several people were rescued from rising water.
“She’d put her kids in the bathtub and got on top of them. The tornado blew the house off the foundation, and everything in the house shattered, and is flattened to the ground.” — Gloucester’s Randy Cook walking through debris of his sister’s home.
ALABAMA: Seven were killed, and Gov. Robert Bentley has declared a state of emergency for all counties. The first race of a busy weekend at the Talladega Superspeedway was postponed until Saturday morning. Thousands of people were camping in open fields and getting ready for three days of races, and they all made it through the storms.
“The tornado hit and jumped and hit and jumped again. It would do some damage and then move on.” — Autauga County Chief Deputy Sheriff Joe Sedinger about Boone’s Chapel, where three adult family members were killed Friday by tornado that ripped through homes.
ARKANSAS: Seven people were killed, including a woman and her 8-year-old son who died when winds knocked a tree into their home in Little Rock. Five others died as powerful straight-line winds blew through. All but one of the deaths occurred when people, including three children, were crushed by falling trees.
“I don’t recall anything even approaching this.” — Gov. Mike Beebe.
OKLAHOMA: Casualties from the storm system started in the state Thursday, when two older people were killed in the small town of Tushka and dozens were injured. Gov. Mary Fallin has declared a state of emergency for 26 counties as at least five tornadoes touched down, four in the southeastern part of the state and a fifth in the central part of the state.
“We’re trying to salvage what we can. It’s devastating. It’s just horrible. Thank God we have so much help.” — Tushka’s Stacy George, who lives across the street from a school where the second story of the main building collapsed into the first.
MISSISSIPPI: One person was killed when at least three tornadoes hit the state Friday. A state of emergency was declared for 14 counties. Some of the worst damage was in Clinton, where a portion of a bank blew onto the interstate.
“You could just feel the house fall down. The whole back side of the house is gone. All you could see was this black cloud.” — Phillip Gregory, 23, who got home as a tornado was forming in his neighborhood in Clinton, just west of Jackson. He and family members huddled in a bathtub.
Compiled by The Associated Press
