Tornadoes confirmed in Marion, Robeson counties, National Weather Service says

MARION, S.C. (WBTW) — The National Weather Service on Wednesday confirmed that an EF-1 tornado struck the city Tuesday night, bringing 90 mph winds and cutting a path nearly two miles wide.

“The most significant damage occurred in downtown Marion along Main Street. A roof completely collapsed near the city center, with limited damage to exterior walls. Across the street, windows and window dividers were completely blown out,” the NWS said a damage assessment.

NWS officials planned to visit Marlboro County to survey potential impacts there as well.

No injuries were reported. Photos sent to News13 by views after the storm — which ripped through the city between 6:10 and 6:13 p.m. — showed some of the damage in town, where several streets were left closed until further notice.

“All that I was doing was playing a game, and, like, the lights flickered, and that’s when my girlfriend noticed that the wind was blowing,” Marion resident Melvin Robinson said. “She looked outside and that’s when we saw the trees blowing back and forth.”

A local business owner said he had just closed his barber shop for the day and was about to start a karate class when the storm rolled through.

“As students came in, we noticed it started raining a little bit,” Frederick Gauss said. [The] wind started blowing, and it got really dark, and for about 45 seconds to a minute, the doors began to shake. The windows were shaking We had glass shattered. I had our kids go in the back to a secure area.”

The storm hit after the National Weather Service in Wilmington said at about 6 p.m. that isolated damaging wind gusts and/or a brief tornado might be possible across southeastern North Carolina and northeastern South Carolina.

The National Weather Service said most of the damage was rated as an EF-0 with 70 mph winds.

“There was a lack of significant tree damage typically seen with tornadoes, which may indicate that the tornado did not contact the ground for a long period of time,” the NWS said.

Gov. Henry McMaster was briefed on the Marion County damage, a spokesman for his office told News13 on Wednesday. State emergency management officials are on standby.

Officials said a tornado was also confirmed in Robeson County, N.C. between Pembroke and Red Springs.

In Robeson County, a roof was damaged and trees were down about 4 miles south of Red Springs. A volunteer fire station in the Red Springs area, the Burnt Swamp Philadelphus Volunteer Fire Department, said the areas of Buie Philadelphus and Townsend Chapel Road were temporarily closed because of trees that were down.

Count on News13 for updates on street closures or any other damages.

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Hannah Huffstickler is a multimedia journalist at News13. She joined the News13 team in January 2024 after graduating from Coastal Carolina University in December of 2023. Keep up with Hannah on Facebook and Instagram. You can also read more of her work here.

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Taylor Ford is a digital journalist for News13. She joined the News13 team in January 2023. Taylor is a Florence native and covers the Pee Dee out of News13’s Florence Bureau. Read more of Taylor’s work here.

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Adam Benson joined the News13 digital team in January 2024. He is a veteran South Carolina reporter with previous stops at the Greenwood Index-Journal, Post & Courier and The Sun News in Myrtle Beach. Adam is a Boston native and University of Utah graduate. Follow Adam on X, formerly Twitter, at @AdamNewshound12. See more of his work here.

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Caleb is a digital producer at News13. Caleb joined the team in January 2023 after graduating from Liberty University. He is from Northern Virginia. Follow Caleb on X, formerly Twitter, and read more of his work here.

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