Severe weather, which downed trees and damaged homes in NC, dumped more than an inch of rain at the Raleigh-Durham International Airport but did not cause much harm in the Triangle.
North of the Triangle, an EF-1 tornado hit Granville County four miles northeast of Oxford about 5:21 a.m., said National Weather Service meteorologist Jonathan Blaes. The twister was on the ground for about a mile with winds up to 95 mph, but nobody was injured.
The tornado watch issued for Wake County and other parts of the Triangle has expired and the severe threat is over, Blaes said. Johnston County is still under a flood warning after heavy rains earlier this week.
In the Rockingham County town of Eden, north of Greensboro near the Virginia state line, a suspected tornado damaged structures and knocked down trees, according to the Greensboro News and Record.
At about 3 a.m., torrential rains fell for a short period of time, the newspaper said. During the storm, which brought strong winds and lightning, a police officer apparently spotted a funnel cloud in Eden.
Downed trees and power lines blocked some roads in Eden, and first responders were walking through neighborhoods with flashlights checking on residents, the News and Record said.
The NWS also is investigating storm damage in the Guilford County area to see if there were any tornadoes or other severe-weather damage, Blaes said.
In the Greensboro area, nearly 1,500 customers were out of power Friday morning, according to Duke Energy. In the Eden area, about 700 people reported outages.
Guilford County announced its schools would be on a two-hour delay on Friday and Rockingham County announced that school is canceled.
No injuries have been reported so far, the News & Record said.
by Chris Cioffi
May 5, 2017
