NC DU'ers. Has the row of tornados hit you yet?

[mmonk]

I'll have to log off soon as one storm is heading towards Wake County.

[supernova]

1. Nice heavy shower in Orange County

just now. A few thunderboomers but not much else.

Seems like all the frantic stuff is south of here.

Stay safe.

:hi:

[mmonk]

5. I heard Person County was hit.

Glad you're doing ok in Orange. Keep safe.

:hi:

[nc4bo]

2. according to wral icontrol, we're in the path of a one.

[mmonk]

9. The storm is actually passing over WRAL now.

It is interfering with their hockey game feed as well. Rain and lightning is picking up here in North Raleigh.

[nc4bo]

10. He best listen to you!! Internet, cable, phone went off then back on, lights flickering

Really bad.

Will probably lose electric shortly.

[mmonk]

12. I'm getting ready to shut things down.

[mmonk]

13. Somebody downtown watching the ballet said they lost power

and a tornado went past the Progress Energy Center downtown. I'm getting this from a television feed.

[NRaleighLiberal]

42. really lucky in my part of N Raleigh - no hail - with my thousands of

tomato seedlings in my driveway, hail is the absolute worst for me at this time of year!

Glad you are safe....quite exciting there for a bit.

If you find yourself around the Farmers Market (on Lake Wheeler Road) the next few Fridays or Saturdays, stop by and say hello - we sell our seedlings just a few weekends each year - would love to meet some NCDUers! (google nctomatoman to find my website - doing a daily blog, let people know where I set up each week)

That goes for all of you NC DUers!

[mmonk]

47. We have a planter on the ground in the backyard, probably

8' X 4'. We plant tomatoes, squash, peppers, and okra. I'll check it out. We live in Stonehenge.

[NRaleighLiberal]

50. Cool - my blog url below

http://nctomatoman.weebly.com/nctomato-and-garden-blog.html

And....the selection of plants we have this year

http://nctomatoman.weebly.com/from-the-vine-vegetable-seedlings-2011.html

[mmonk]

53. Thanks!

[ladyVet]

3. past us now

We had a sighting on Church St here in Alamance County, then about 10 minutes later the heaviest part of the storm hit us here in the northern area with hail, high winds and heavy rain--it was moving pretty fast. Don't think anything touched down, at least I haven't heard.

[mmonk]

40. Good to hear.

[MedleyMisty]

4. Apparently there was a storm here earlier while I was asleep

But it's fine and calm and pretty now. Fairly windy.

[mmonk]

6. Maybe I should take one.

The one near Sanford is supposedly heading towards Raleigh.

[GentryDixon]

7. My husband is in Harnett County.

I told him to head for the ditch. It looks pretty bad.

http://www.wral.com/weather/doppler5000/?m=johnston

[dixiegrrrrl]

8. Purple IS bad on radar.

Crossed fingers for y'all.

[mmonk]

11. WRAL is showing a dark picture heading towards the 440 Beltline.

It said the dark tail is probably where a tornado is. I'm getting hail right now.

[marions ghost]

14. From WRAL tornado south Raleigh

#
Breaking News: Emergency dispatchers confirm a tornado has touched down 4 miles south of west Raleigh.
# Weather: 92 NC counties and 2 VA counties are under alert. » View Details

[mmonk]

23. Yes, I heard.

[marions ghost]

27. Raleigh

might be one of the luckier ones. These small rural areas are getting hammered.

I wouldn't want to be on I-95 right now....

[mmonk]

33. Yes, we ended up pretty lucky. Rural towns not so much.

We had a bad one in Raleigh in 1988. A child in a neighboring neighborhood lost their child that year. I heard a call in from a woman in Apex that said debris was falling out of the sky there today and part of someone's roof fell in their driveway.

[mmonk]

60. The Yonkers Rd to Brentwood Rd/Sunnybrook Rd area was hit pretty bad.

Lots of property damage and two fatalities in that area of Raleigh.

[GentryDixon]

15. A tornado touched down 4 miles

south of West Raleigh. The tornado watch for Johnston & Harnett counties have been canceled as of a few minutes ago. It must be moving fast.

[mmonk]

25. Buildings on South Saunders Street damaged.

Gas leak is reported.

[GentryDixon]

32. Many years ago I worked

at Rogers Oil Company just off South Saunders. It was near the Purina factory. I would see rats the size of small dogs munching on the spill from Purina.

[mmonk]

34. Oh yes. Know that area well.

[marions ghost]

16. In Sanford NC -- Lowes store "flattened" ?!

This is southwest of Raleigh, between Fayetteville and Pittsboro.

Also several homes destroyed in Sanford, according to report.

My MIL lives down there, which is why I'm following...

[supernova]

19. That's were some of the heaviest

part of the storm was, in Sanford.

I hope everyone down there is OK.

:grouphug:

[marions ghost]

26. I hope so

but from the reports it would be a miracle if NC avoids a death toll... :scared:

[uppityperson]

28. picture, did it work?

http://twitpic.com/4lpmxf

[mmonk]

41. Yes, it was hit.

Hope eveything is fine with your mil.

[marions ghost]

57. don't know yet

She's 84 and lives alone in Fay. Can't get her by phone, nor the neighbors on either side. But we're going on the assumption that all the phones are out around there. Hope to hear from her soon. I didn't think Fayetteville got it too bad, but it's not far from Sanford. Still, if there were any severe devastation where she is, I think it would be on the news by now. Not too worried.

I hope if she got into her central closet like she always talked about doing if one came up.

thanks

[mmonk]

61. You're probably correct. Best of luck.

[Mudoria]

17. Was a rainy and windy morning and early afternoon here in Rowan

The sun is shining now but that wind hasn't let up much.

Update: Appears a tornado hit northern Rowan county. WBTV reports 18-20 houses hit and loss of power but so far no injuires. National Weather service is coming out to determine if it was a tornado.

[malaise]

18. Stay safe DUers

:grouphug:

[WillyT]

20. Hey Monk... Let Us Know You're Ok, When You Can... Please...

:grouphug:

:hi:

[mmonk]

24. I'm back. Ok as well.

The tornado that came by my area passed south of me. Thanks.

:hi:

[JoePhilly]

43. Had debris land in my driveway .... a hunk of dry wall with wall paper on it.

It was about 10 inches by 14 inches, all of the edges were ragged.

Another piece of plywood, similar size, also ripped apart, land in the back yard.

Bits of insulation, one piece that was about 3 feet by 4 feet, and then lots of smaller pieces around the neighborhood.

The Tornado passed south of here, we had lights flickering on and off, and almost enough rain to overflow a run off area out back, but not quite.

We're just north of 64 near Apex. We had some hail. We could definitely hear it. Just one long continuous rumble.

But my sense is that we were on the outer most edge, just close enough to hear it, get heavy wind, tons of rain, and to have some small pieces of debris reach us.

We sent my wife and daughters to the basement, but my son and I stayed upstairs following the continuous coverage on TV. Their predictions of where it was and how it was moving were extremely accurate.

[mmonk]

48. I heard someone call in on tv from Apex that said that debris fell

from the sky and also that part of someone's roof fell in their driveway.

[JoePhilly]

49. I believe it.

We had some small bits of rooking shingles, but nothing much bigger than an index card.

After the storm, we drove to the neighborhood in Apex where we lived about 10 years ago. Near the Eva Perry Library, and one of the small streams had backed up enough to block the bottom of New Dover Road.

[NRaleighLiberal]

65. We have debris in our neighborhood - roof tiles, styrofoam, insulation in our yard.

Lots of fiber insulation and styrofoam in the septic field of our neighborhood. I guess it is from the Brentwood area storm. Weird.

[mmonk]

67. I don't see much in ours.

I think when it got to the Capital Blvd area, it took a sharp turn that kept it east from me and went straight towards Wake Forest and Rolesville.

[onethatcares]

21. was there anything in Iredell county?

My son lives in Statesville and my grandkids have been home alone all day? Thanx.

[marions ghost]

22. should be OK

the worst is to the east. Still going on around Smithfield, Clinton, Selma area.

I worry about people traveling along I-95. They say some cars have flipped. There has been "baseball sized" hail. Also a lot of damage north of Durham at Roxboro, trees down, roofs ripped off.

This is bad, very bad.

[mmonk]

29. Storm video

Here.

And here.

[Mist]

30. The storms moved east northeast from Sanford over to Raleigh and north of Raleigh. Missed my

area (Chapel Hill). We got some thunder/lightening/hard brief rain. I've been watching News14--they're covering the storms for the last hour our more. They're telling everyone in the path of the storm line to get to shelter fast. Hope all Duers in that part of NC are okay.

[mmonk]

62. Good to know Chapel Hill was spared.

[uppityperson]

31. Link and map of tornadoes today. Click the date above to see yesterday's. Incredible!

http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/reports/110416_rpts.html

[mmonk]

36. Thanks. It has been hard to follow all the reports.

[uppityperson]

37. someone last night said to google tornado and then click on "realtime" to follow

scary

[mmonk]

44. Yes, the line was pretty frightening.

Many tornadoes would stay on the ground for many miles at a time.

[uppityperson]

35. live streaming raleigh/durham, oh man. Neighborhood gone except 1 house

http://www.emergencystream.com/video_streams/NC/Raleigh-Durham1.html

[NRaleighLiberal]

38. scary stuff - we were selling heirloom tomato plants at the Raleigh Farmers Market -

packed up and headed for home at 1....watched them closely on TV once the first formed west of Holly Springs - we got the auto call from Greg Fishel when the warning hit Wake. Second time in my life weather has scared me...first was Hurricane Fran in 1996.

But - we are very fortunate - no hail, no wind damage - here's hoping all NC DUers are safe. (actually, hoping everyone in NC is safe!).

:hi:

[marions ghost]

39. hurricane Fran

Lots of tornadoes everywhere...

[mmonk]

45. Hurricane Fran rearranged my landscaping.

7 pines in my back yard were knocked down like bowling pins in the same direction. One of my trees hit my neighbors garage and took out my fence. Then on the other side, one of my neighbor's trees hit the boxend of my house. I have maples there now.

[marions ghost]

51. "the attack of the trees"

is how one of my friends described it. We had so much devastation near Hboro that many people still have PTSD re storms.

[mmonk]

55. I believe it. Afterwards, our dog was never the same whenever

storms came through. Someone was lifting trees off of homes on my short street (a semi-circle) with cranes and used chain saws. They did our side of the street first and earned $15,000 just on our side. Then they did the other side.

[marions ghost]

58. whew

yes there was money to be made...dangerous money tho. Many deaths from chain saw men, and one even got
whomped by a root ball that flopped down and killed him.

I had to go to a funeral in Raleigh with my relatives from VA. My 102 year old aunt died in the middle of Fran in Raleigh. They could not keep bodies cool and the funeral had to be hurried for whoever could get there. I will never forget trying to drive around in the aftermath. No stoplights, trees everywhere. We had no business doing that. Treacherous.

[NRaleighLiberal]

56. We lost around 100 trees - was like pick up sticks in our back yard.

we were really lucky - not a single branch hit our house (of course one of our trees demolished the neighbor's deck)...

[marions ghost]

59. I have a similar story

:hug: never forget it

Nature is in control, not us.

[JoePhilly]

46. I have a somewhat funny story about those ...

We were living in Apex when Fran came. But on the same night it was coming, we were also planning to drive up to visit friends outside DC.

We considered staying home, but then decided that if your home is hit by a hurricane, you probably want to be somewhere else.

So we left for DC just as the very first bits of rain started in the Raliegh area. As we drove, we quickly got out of the rain. Our kids were younger then, and so we stopped a number of times for gas, food, bathroom, etc. We'd stop, and it would not be raining. But as we left each location, the rain caught up with us.

So we get to DC, and we all go to bed at our friend's house. And when we got up in the morning ... the tornado alerts started in the Virgina, Maryland and DC areas. They were dropping all over the place. So we ran from Fran, and we spent most of the next day hiding from Fran's tornadoes anyway.

After hitting the Raleigh area Fran and her tornadoes had turned north and chased us all the way to DC.

[Terra Alta]

52. No tornadoes in Stanly County.

We did get a lot of wind and rain though. Hope everyone is staying safe!

[NRaleighLiberal]

54. Here is an image of the tornado tracks in NC from WRAL

[mmonk]

63. South Saunders Street, Raleigh (about 4 miles south of downtown)

Based on my summation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMxLPdwHUIc

View from downtown of the approach.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srwtn-Zjv_E

[marions ghost]

66. oh wow

that one of the approach to Raleigh shows how big that thing was, a mile wide...

so awful. Thanks for posting.

[mmonk]

69. Watch this timeline video of the approach (warning: cars appearing to go fast

due to being timelapse).

http://www.newraleigh.com/articles/archive/raleigh-skyline-video/

Man decided to direct traffic in downtown neighborhood after storm hit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFS5X7cJis0

(whoever posted video calls him a bum unfairly I think)

[mnhtnbb]

72. That first link is to a storm May 9, 2009.

[mmonk]

73. Darn. I couldn't tell. Can't edit. I don't remember that or I guess

I've been through too many to separate them in my mind.

[mmonk]

75. Here's an interesting view from someone's car.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjmSMoEA174

[mnhtnbb]

64. I was at the Carolina Ballet this afternoon when the tornado hit.

Lights onstage and music went off. Cleared the stage. House lights came up. Tornado going overhead really does sound like a train. Knew what it was...lived in Tornado Alley (NE and MO) for 12 years, but despite being in the basement a number of times, never had a tornado go overhead.
Excellent crowd control. Kept us inside and informed until threat was over. We left--hoping
to find our car not demolished. Trees were down everywhere. Traffic lights were out--and
we had heard S. Saunders St. was a mess--so we got in the undamaged car and headed the other direction to Glenwood Ave and out 440 to 40 to come home to Chapel Hill.

That's one ballet performance we'll never forget!

[mmonk]

68. Were you the one that talked to TV reporters?

[mnhtnbb]

70. No--we got the heck out of there!

[mnhtnbb]

71. Link to gallery of photos of tornado damage in Raleigh/Sanford areas

http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/04/17/1136010/at-least-25-dead-in-6-states-after.html?tab=video&media_id=81339301

[mmonk]

76. The photo gallery was interesting. Thanks.

I was unaware the North King Charles Road area was hit. My wife used to live in that area. I understand now why maternity patients at Wake Med were moved to a different floor. My sister in law is going to the rescue mission downtown today to see who needs help. She was hired as a nurse by them recently. Thanks.

[mmonk]

81. New link to video and photo gallery in Raleigh

http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/04/17/1134982/storms-rip-central-north-carolina.html?tab=video&media_id=81339301

[indimuse]

74. there is a guy on TY that predicts these tornadoes and storms of late..

9 out of 9 times he's been spot on! really! Days before, he'll tell you exactly where they will be! do you wanna know how? ;)

[nc4bo]

77. OMG - there is some serious devastation out here. I pray everyone ok.

lost power for about 12 hours - just came back on now.

less than 5-6 miles from here there is devastation, house ripped apart, Pine Forest schools and fields torn up, tractor trailers and cars flipped or smashed\, huge pines snapped like toothpicks, stuff everywhere.

THANK GOD/GODDESS WE'RE ALIVE AND WELL!!

[mmonk]

80. Glad you're back up.

[mvd]

78. I hope everyone is safe

Tornadoes are awful things. Even in PA, they are one of my biggest fears.

[mmonk]

79. Video of tornado in Wilson County near my cousin's home.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LC52No_LdKw&feature=player_embedded