ALEXANDER COUNTY, N.C. — The National Weather Service surveyed damage in Alexander County after an EF1 tornado touched down in Alexander County Wednesday night.
They surveyed damage along a five to six-mile stretch in the Sugar Loaf and Ellendale communities.
NWS officials said they believe the tornado produced winds over 110 mph, which caused damage to homes in the area.
Our colleagues at the National Weather Service have determined that an EF-1 tornado with winds to 110 mph. pushed through Alexander county Wed night pic.twitter.com/tHEeN94FJB
— Steve Udelson (@SUdelsonWSOC9) March 25, 2022
Channel 9 reporter Dave Faherty was with weather officials Friday as they canvased the area. Faherty said he could see telltale signs that a tornado was present.
“With a tornado, you have that rotating wind direction. So the trees will all fall over each other. Some will fall backward,” Trisha Palmer with the National Weather Service said.
Faherty said NCDOT worked to clear some of the trees from the path of the storm northwest of Taylorsville.
Along Archie Mountain Road, Faherty said a roof was ripped from a home that was more than 100 years old.
“Just destroyed everything,” owner of the home Daniel Horn said.
Horn said he is receiving help from a local church and is hoping to get a tarp placed on the home before rain arrives.
“This is the only place I got to go,” Horn said while crying.
Tommy Simmons told Channel 9 that his home was damaged after the powerful storm brought down ten trees onto his home and vehicles.
He said the strongest winds lasted less than a minute but neighbors he had never met before spend hours helping to clean up the fallen trees.
“They showed up. They started sawing trees out of the driveway. They cut us a path to get out from our house to the road. And it was just, you know, it was huge. It was just real-life heroes,” Simmons said.
Alexander County- the NWS has confirmed an EF1 tornado touched down in Alexander county Wednesday night with winds up to 110 mph. We were out with the NWS as they surveyed the damage today. Our coverage tonight at 530 on channel 9 pic.twitter.com/N3JkW5ICtB
— Dave Faherty (@FahertyWSOC9) March 25, 2022
No injuries have been reported.
NWS said they plan to check out damnage to the southwest areas of Caldwell and Burke conties where the storms first hit.
(WATCH BELOW: Six confirmed tornadoes caused massive damage after sweeping through North Carolina)
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