Storm slams Cleveland and Gaston counties
Lightning, thunder, hail and a tornado came through Gaston and Cleveland counties Wednesday afternoon.
Cleveland County Emergency Management director, Perry Davis, confirmed that an EF-1 tornado moved through Cleveland County Wednesday afternoon. Davis said it moved through Polkville, Fallston and Waco with damage in other areas from the outer band of the tornado.
Jake Wimberley, meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said a survey team went out to Cleveland County Thursday morning to make an assessment on whether there was a tornado.
"There was a consistent enough path of damage, it was likely enough that there was a tornado, that we sent the team to do a survey," he said.
He said the damage was along a track with a number of trees down around Shelby, Bessemer City and into Gastonia and widespread wind damage in both counties.
Wimberley said up to two and half inches of rain fell along the track of the heaviest rain.
He said he was not aware of any reports of tornado sightings.
The winds, ran and downed trees caused widespread power outages.
According to Cleveland County government, in Cleveland County, there were 3,201 Duke Energy customers without power Thursday morning, down from 6,386 Wednesday evening. The hardest hit areas were in the upper part of the county around Belwood and Casar.
Both Cleveland and Gaston county schools were closed Thursday as a result of the damage, and a woman was killed in Gastonia.
Jacqueline Morrison-Donald of York, South Carolina, was driving south on South New Hope Road when the tree fell from the westbound shoulder of the road at about 4:30 p.m., N.C. Highway Patrol said. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
A passenger, Tyrone Edward Lee of New York, New York, was taken to Caromont Regional Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries.
An emergency shelter was opened for Gaston County residents at the Adult Recreation Center located at 519 W. Franklin Blvd., Gastonia, read a release Wednesday night.
“We’re working as quickly as we can to make sure our residents are safe and downed trees and debris is moved out of roadways so power crews can work on getting power restored,” Gaston County Board of Commissioners Chairman Brown said in a press release.
Over 1,300 911 calls came in during a brief period compared to 600 during a 24-hour period on a busy day, according to Gaston County Emergency Management Deputy Director Scott Hunter.
Diane Turbyfill and Kara Fohner contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on The Shelby Star: Storm slams Cleveland and Gaston counties
