What’s left of Fred spawns tornadoes, cuts power to thousands in Charlotte, Carolinas
The remnants of Tropical Depression Fred spawned at least two possible tornadoes north of Charlotte on Tuesday and left 39,200 Duke Energy customers in the Carolinas without power, including about 3,000 in the Charlotte area.
One of the tornadoes was confirmed Wednesday by a National Weather Service storm damage survey team. The tornado, with peak 110-mph winds, damaged a couple of homes and snapped trees 20 feet in the air on the Iredell-Alexander county line, the NWS team reported.
No one was hurt as the EF-1 twister — the second weakest on the Enhanced Fujita Scale for tornado intensity and damage — carved a 5.1-mile path through a rural stretch of the counties, the NWS team reported.
At 6 p.m Tuesday, about 2,000 of the outages were just north of Charlotte’s airport, according to the Duke Energy outage map. Virtually all power was restored in Mecklenburg County by 8:30 p.m., while 14,400 customers in McDowell County in the mountains remained without electricity at that hour.
Duke Energy, on its website, said the high winds and heavy rains caused “significant structural damage” to its electrical grid in the mountains and foothills in North and South Carolina.
“As weather conditions improve, our crews will begin making repairs and conducting a full assessment of the damage incurred,” the Charlotte utility said.
Thousands of other outages occurred earlier in the afternoon in the mountains, as heavy rains and intense thunderstorms barreled into the Carolinas.
By late Tuesday afternoon, the National Weather Service office in Greer, S.C., extended a tornado watch into Mecklenburg and surrounding counties until 2 a.m. Wednesday. The watch had earlier been issued primarily for mountain counties.
A tornado warning for central York and Chester counties, S.C., expired at 6:15 p.m. Another warning that included York County was set to expire at 8:45 p.m.
“At 5:36 p.m., a severe thunderstorm capable of producing a tornado was located 5 miles south of Chester, or near Chester State Park, moving north at 40 mph,” the NWS posted in the alert a minute later.
NWS meteorologists and county emergency management officials confirmed the two tornadoes.
At 11:45 a.m., Alexander County received reports of a tornado in the Hiddenite-Stony Point area.
“Numerous trees are down,” county officials said in a news release, adding that emergency crews were assessing the extent of damage. No injuries or damage to buildings had been reported, officials said.
The storm that spawned the tornado entered Alexander from Iredell County along Old Mountain Road, Alexander County officials said. That’s in the Interstate 40 corridor.
At 12:36 p.m., a tornado was confirmed 14 miles north of Statesville near the rural Iredell County community of Harmony, according to the NWS office in Greer, S.C.
“To repeat, a tornado is on the ground,” the NWS said in an alert. “TAKE COVER NOW! Move to a basement or an interior room on the lowest floor of a sturdy building. Avoid windows.
“If you are outdoors, in a mobile home, or in a vehicle, move to the closest substantial shelter and protect yourself from flying debris. Heavy rainfall may hide this tornado. Do not wait to see or hear the tornado. TAKE COVER NOW!”
The tornado moved north at 25 mph before dissipating, NWS meteorologists said.
Emergency management officials confirmed the tornado, according to the NWS.
No injuries or home or business damage was immediately reported.
“Flying debris will be dangerous to those caught without shelter,” the NWS said in an alert. “Mobile homes will be damaged or destroyed. Damage to roofs, windows, and vehicles will occur. Tree damage is likely.
The rural Iredell communities of Union Grove, Turnersburg and Olin also fell under the warning.
At 3 p.m., the NWS also retweeted video of a possible but unconfirmed tornado near Drexel in Burke County.
Meteorologists and emergency management officials blamed severe thunderstorms spawned by Fred for knocking out power to several thousand Duke Energy customers west and southwest of Asheville, and 1,000 customers in Valdese, Burke County.
Weather threat to Charlotte area
The tornado watches issued until 7 p.m. for 22 N.C. counties meant conditions in the atmosphere were ripe for them to form. A tornado warning means a tornado has been spotted, or that weather radar indicated a tornado had formed, according to the NWS.
“Deep tropical moisture” from Fred is expected to dump heavy rains on the region and produce potentially severe thunderstorms, according to the hazardous weather outlook bulletin by the NWS office in Greer, S.C.
Mecklenburg and surrounding counties were included in the warning, which lasted into early Wednesday.
Counties also included Cabarrus, Union, Rowan, Gaston, Cleveland and Davie and, in South Carolina, York, Chester, Union and Cherokee.
“The remnants of Tropical Depression Fred will produce periodic heavy rainfall with embedded thunderstorms today into tonight,” meteorologists said in the bulletin. “The main impacts are cloud-to-ground lightning, isolated tornadoes, and heavy rainfall leading to the potential for isolated flash flooding.”
Heavy bands of rain are expected to move into Charlotte and surrounding areas by 2 or 3 p.m., NWS meteorologist Ashley Pratt told The Charlotte Observer at 9:45 a.m. Storms could continue developing in the region until 3 or 4 a.m. Wednesday, she said.
Fred’s rains were in northeast Georgia at 9:45 a.m., with showers beginning to move into western Upstate South Carolina and the N.C. mountains, Pratt said.
Charlotte’s airport has an 80% chance of rain and possible thunderstorms throughout the day and night Tuesday, according to the 10 a.m. NWS forecast.
Wednesday has a 60% of rain a showers throughout the day and night, with sunshine finally expected to emerge on Thursday, NWS meteorologists said.
Highs are predicted to increase from 81 degrees on Tuesday to 88 Wednesday and 91 Thursday, before dipping to 89 Friday and 88 Saturday, according to the NWS forecast.
This story was originally published August 17, 2021 at 10:34 AM.