Condition of couple badly hurt in Rocky Mount tornado improves, health system says

The condition of two Edgecombe county residents who were seriously injured during the Rocky Mount tornado has improved, but they remained hospitalized, according to a health system spokesperson.

Dale and Ricky Carter were sheltering in a one-room building on Wednesday when the tornado launched them into a nearby field, WRAL reported.

The fall left Ricky, who has cancer, with a broken shoulder and leg, according to the reporting. Dale suffered a broken pelvis and a brain bleed.

As of Friday morning, Dale Carter was in “fair condition,” which ECU Health defines as being conscious, though potentially uncomfortable.

Ricky Carter was is still in “serious condition,” which means he is still “acutely ill,” the spokesperson said.

The EF3 tornado touched down in the Rocky Mount area on Wednesday afternoon, heavily damaging a Pfizer product facility and injuring more than a dozen people in Nash County.

This was the first tornado of this magnitude to ever be recorded in North Carolina during the month of July, said Chrissy Anderson, a meteorologist with Raleigh’s National Weather Service.

The Raleigh National Weather Service reported that the tornado reached speeds of 150 mph.

The tornado’s path was over 16 miles long, with the width of its damage was about 600 yards, Anderson said.

This story was originally published July 21, 2023 at 1:58 PM with the headline "Condition of couple badly hurt in Rocky Mount tornado improves, health system says."

Teddy Rosenbluth

The News & Observer

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Teddy Rosenbluth covers science for The News & Observer in a position funded by Duke Health and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund. She has covered science and health care for Los Angeles Magazine, the Santa Monica Daily Press, and the Concord Monitor. Her investigative reporting has brought her everywhere from the streets of Los Angeles to the hospitals of New Delhi. She graduated from UCLA with a bachelor’s degree in psychobiology.