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National Weather Service confirms tornado in Union Co.

UNION COUNTY, N.C. — An EF-0 tornado that hit Monday afternoon in Union County was only on the ground for three minutes, but carried winds up to 85 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service.

The debris scattered by the storm could be seen from Chopper 9 Skyzoom, including big trees down and a shed that had a roof ripped off it.

On the ground, surveyors with the NWService out of Greenville looked for very specific factors like which direction the trees fell and how the roof shingles and debris blew to confirm it was a tornado, as it appeared in a video sent to Channel 9 by a viewer.

"It developed very, very quickly in one particular location and basically just went away," said Tony Sturey, a warning and coordination meteorologist with the NWS-Greenville.

The tornado initially touched down near Jug Broome Road and was on the ground for about three minutes before lifting along East Sandy Ridge Road.

Richie Nash grabbed his cellphone after he witnessed a funnel cloud forming about 200 yards from his home. In the video you can hear his son yelling, “Oh my God! It’s a tornado!”

You can then hear Nash tell the boy to get in the house.

The video captures the funnel cloud dropping to the ground. The tornado then picks back up and touches down again.

“I couldn’t believe it was right here beside the house,” said Nash. “It was really close. It would go up and then come back down.”

The video captures the tornado slowly moving away from Nash’s home. He and his family were lucky it didn’t come too close to them.

Peggy Davis, who lives nearby, wasn’t as fortunate.

https://twitter.com/lizfosterWSOC9/status/681884052677353472

“I was scared to death,” Davis said as she showed Channel 9 the damage the storm had done to her home and property.

Davis said she was inside her home reading the Bible when she heard the loud winds. She ran into a closet for cover.

“It sounded like a freight train or something,” said Davis. “Material things can be replaced.”

The tornado developed within seconds; too fast for the National Weather Service to issue a tornado warning.

Channel 9 meteorologists in Severe Weather Center 9 were tracking the system live on the air.

With the help of Eyewitness News viewers who saw the funnel cloud, Channel 9 was first to report a potential tornado had formed.

"It was odd," Sturey said about how rare the tornado was.

No one was hurt.

  • PRESS PLAY for Meteorologist Keith Monday's analysis of the Union County tornado:

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