The deadly storms kill at least 45 people

Askewville, N.C., a town of a few hundred in rural Bertie County, awoke to near total destruction Sunday morning after a powerful, unusually large tornado touched down and then swept across 6 miles, flattening autoclave everything in its path, killing 11 people and injuring 50 more.

“It is devastating,” County Manager Zee Lamb said Sunday after surveying the damage in his 700-square-mile county. “We’ve had hurricanes, floods. We’ve had tornadoes before. But we’ve never seen anything like this.”

The county has shifted from search and rescue to recovery, he said. “People are already starting to clean up the debris, but it’s a real big mess.”

Tornadoes, high winds and flooding rains ripped across the South for three days, killing at least 45 people in six states Thursday through Saturday in the deadliest storm outbreak to hit the USA in more than three years. The Storm Prediction Center noted 243 initial reports of tornadoes in 13 states — an “astounding” number, Weather Channel meteorologist Jonathan Erdman said.

Severe storms in February 2008 killed 57 people across the Southeast.

The tornado that struck Bertie County was one of 62 in North Carolina, causing “significant damage” in 26 counties, according shaded pold motor to Julia Jarema, North Carolina Emergency Management spokeswoman. The state confirmed 23 deaths.

The storm hit the state late Saturday morning, and more continued into the evening.

“ We still don’t have a full grasp of what the damage is,” Jarema said.

Initial assessments found more than 65 homes destroyed and more than 600 damaged, but not all counties had reported, she said. Streets were blocked by downed trees and power lines, and more than 250,000 homes and businesses had lost power. A coordinating officer from the Federal Emergency Management Administration arrived Sunday.

“There is a lot of damage, and there are a lot of people who are hurting impact crusher physically and emotionally right now,” Jarema said.

In Bertie, the tornado destroyed at least 75 buildings, Lamb said. One extended family lost four homes and their business, he said.

“It’s just so spread out and so destroyed, he’s not going to be able to salvage much. The whole area is flattened. There’s nothing left,” Lamb said. “The debris is spread out over miles. There’s stuff in trees.”
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell declared a state of emergency after the storm caused flash flooding, power outages and, in Carroll County, a mudslide. Nine counties reported damage to homes and businesses,
downed trees and power outages. Waynesboro City and four counties reported flash flooding. The state confirmed five storm-related deaths.

One tornado touched down Saturday night at the switchyard of a Surry, Va., nuclear power station, cutting off electricity and triggering a shutdown of two reactors, according to a statement issued by Dominion Virginia Power. The company reported no release of radioactive material and notified the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. “They shut down exactly as they are designed to do,” NRC spokesman Joey Ledford said. “There is no danger.”

The Surry power station in southeastern Virginia, across the James River from historic Jamestown, generates 1,598 megawatts of electric power . The tornado did not strike the two reactors, which are housed in steel-reinforced concrete containment buildings designed to withstand tornadoes, hurricanes and earthquakes, the company said.

Meteorologists attributed the storms’ ferocity to cold air from the Plains colliding with warm, humid air from the electronic ballast Gulf of Mexico. Weather Channel meteorologist Mark Ressler predicted more strong storms with tornadoes, high winds and hail Tuesday in eastern Kansas, eastern Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee.