Videos and photos capture chaos, destruction as storms barrel through the Carolinas
A tornado hasn’t hit the Charlotte area since 2016.
But at least two could have touched down in Mecklenburg County on Thursday as severe weather pummeled much of the Southeast, according to the National Weather Service. Eight more possible reports were recorded across North and South Carolina by 7 p.m.
# of Reports | County/State | Details |
2 | Spartanburg, SC | Trees downed on houses, roads |
2 | Gaston, NC | Trees and power lines down |
3 | Cabarrus, NC | Trees and power lines down with some structural damage |
1 | Rowan, NC | Trees down and garage destroyed |
2 | Mecklenburg, NC | Trees down |
At least two people died and more than 100,000 were without power as of 4 p.m., the Charlotte Observer reported. According to the weather service, Charlotte remains at risk of flooding with heavy rain and fog expected overnight.
Videos and pictures on social media captured some of the destruction.
Yikes! Tornado warned storm that did drop a tornado northeast of Charlotte. This was shot near Almond, NC. There is very possibly a rain-wrapped or developing Torando in there!
Permission: James Pegram #NCwx pic.twitter.com/k8y8jv2RmK— Live Storm Chasers (@Livestormchaser) February 7, 2020
Photos of #tornado damage from #PinevilleNC from around around 12:30 pm. Photo courtesy of Al Monda. #ncwx #scwx #cltwx #TornadoDamage #Charlotte #NWSGSP pic.twitter.com/UjrlxKn9rY
— Hexagon Media Group (@HexagonMediaNC) February 7, 2020
Ayer tuvimos una tormenta fuerte en el area de Charlotte NC. Tuvimos una advertencia de tornado en la zona. Las calles se inundaron y algunas colapsaron. Hoy los chamos no tienen clases, están limpiando y reparando los daños. Vean lo q le sucedió a esta calle. No hubo heridos. pic.twitter.com/zPRGvnyex5
— Jenny (@LaMamaDeEthan) February 7, 2020
@wxbrad #cltwx @wcnc my husband literally just showed me this video he took today at 12:19 pm in uptown Charlotte he was changing some emergency lights in a stairway and heard a noise and saw this I think this is right at the second #tornado warning today in #clt pic.twitter.com/j7Kzo0fyDG
— Maria Lopez (@zabache) February 7, 2020
Footage shows split trees and damage to buildings and power lines, as a possible tornado tore through a town in South Carolina. https://t.co/el6iIErdGW pic.twitter.com/bMj6w5hdKh
— ABC News (@ABC) February 6, 2020
Tornado hitting my neighborhood. @NWSGSP #cltwx #ncwx #scwx pic.twitter.com/6HWrETyn7Y
— Brad Panovich (@wxbrad) February 6, 2020
Uptown Charlotte #TORNADO WARNING pic.twitter.com/2m4SHCT8QH
— Firebird Fan (@FirebirdFan_CLT) February 6, 2020
Horrible storm just came through Raleigh about 45 min ago. Power is out and trees all are over the place. #Tornado pic.twitter.com/jgsAr2HCtc
— Chase Gunter (@Chase_Gunter5) February 6, 2020
ICYMI: Water-logged, #Tornado warned storms moved through the Charlotte metro area this morning. Reports are coming in of damage and widespread flooding in the Carolinas. pic.twitter.com/dnWSg91Kpd
— WeatherNation (@WeatherNation) February 6, 2020
This house on Old Concord Salisbury Road is badly damaged, after the owners tell me a tornado hit about an hour ago. The second-floor bathroom is now lying in their side yard. @wsoctv pic.twitter.com/Cenmxnqnac
— Susanna Black (@SusannaWSOC9) February 6, 2020
Midtown/Greenway ... #cltwx @wxbrad pic.twitter.com/1DLvx9S0XQ
— Bruce Clark (@ibclark) February 6, 2020
Frazier Park in Charlotte is completely underwater! @wxbrad @wcnc pic.twitter.com/ZD7rtSa9q7
— Kayla (@kay_m_haase) February 6, 2020
Picture from the I-77 incident. Truck will remain on scene for a bit. No need to report. We have cleared from the scene. Use caution & YIELD to responding units #MoveOver #CLTtraffic #CLTwx pic.twitter.com/48jaKDoHnj
— Huntersville Fire (@Huntersville_FD) February 6, 2020
This was in the High Shoals area. @GastonCounty @NorthChasers pic.twitter.com/IXFMwuYju9
— Gaston County Scanner Radio (@GastonScanner) February 6, 2020
@wxbrad I was naughty and was by a window but it was calm just a minute before. Then I heard hail and I wanted to see how big it was. As I looked, it then got really bad. Here’s my video thru sm window of front door. I live basically across from outlet mall. pic.twitter.com/DgIB8vfkts
— Tammy Ofsanik (@TammyOfsanik) February 6, 2020
Receiving video from sources in the area. Shown here a retention pond inside Highlands subdivision in Weddington, NC breaching and flowing onto the fields at Optimist Park and eventually into nearby 12 Mile Creek. @StormHour @WeatherNation @wcnc @wxbrad #CLTwx #NCwx #flooding pic.twitter.com/xG7dVtdlPh
— Jed Whitley (@jedwhitley) February 6, 2020
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated the last time a tornado touched down in the Charlotte area. It was 2016, not 2011. The article has been updated to reflect that.
