News
Storms wreaked havoc in Forsyth, Davie counties
Journal Photo by Jennifer Rotenizer
Storm damage on Underpass Road in Advance, NC.
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Published: May 9, 2008
Updated: 05/09/2008 03:17 pm
Gov. Mike Easley today dispatched damage-assessment teams comprised of state and local officials to Guilford, Forsyth, and Davie counties to begin the process of assessing damage from the storm that swept through the area late Thursday and earlier today.
The National Weather Service confirmed today that a tornado touched down in Clemmons.
Storm investigators also believe that the damage in Davie County was caused by a tornado, but don't know whether it was the same storm that struck south of Clemmons.
"I was told that several storm cells moved across Davie County yesterday evening," said Neil Dixon, a meteorologist in the National Weather Service office in Greer, S.C., which handles weather in Davie and points south. "A cold front approached us yesterday and out of that front were strong low-level winds. Throughout the day we were building instability in the atmosphere."
The bad news is that the same cconditions are expected to prevail on Sunday. "Again on Sunday we could see severe thundershowers," Dixon said.
The storm touched down in Advance on Underpass Road about 11 last night.
William Lanning had just gone to bed when his wife, Cindy, came upstairs to tell him that a tornado was headed their way and they needed to get the children to a safe place.
He stood up to put his pants on and in that moment the "closet blew up and the wind filled the room and everything went dark," he said.
The master bedroom extends over the garage. The wind blew the roof off and the floor beneath the room collapsed, with the bedroom landing in the garage, crushing the cars.
Cindy Lanning was rolled up inside the bedroom carpet. William Lanning was cut and bruised.
From the garage, the only way back into the main part of the house was outside. They stumbled around in the dark until they found a door to the house. Their son let them in. The children were unharmed.
"I didn't hear a thing," Lanning said this morning. "I didn't hear the dreaded train."
Rodney Miller, the chief of the Advance Fire Department, said this morning that the storm damaged homes and trees in a one-mile radius. He said that one person in the region had minor injuries. About 5,000 households in Davie County were still without power late this afternoon.
The city/county Office of Emergency Management said this morning that Frye Bridge Road in Clemmons will be closed at Cooper Road and at Loop Road. Dock Davis Road at Idols Road is also blocked.
The roads are not expected to be re-opened until Saturday morning. Residents are the only people that will be allowed to enter the Frye Bridge Road area, Emergency Management officials.
About 300 Duke Energy customers were without power in Forsyth County late this afternoon.
Flooding also caused problems in Forsyth County. Michelle Brock, assistant coordinator for Forsyth County emergency management, said that firefighters rescued five people because of flooding in Winston-Salem. She said high water had displaced about 10 people.
In Winston-Salem, the storm caused extensive damage to Hanes Park, said Tim Grant, the city's director of recreation and parks.
"Right now it's just a muddy mess," Grant said.
The park's clay tennis courts, which were recently resurfaced, are likely destroyed by flooding, Grant said, and the hard tennis courts may also be badly damaged.
The Joe White Tennis Center was flooded and the water washed away the sand to the park's playground.
The center has a tennis shop inside, run by Randy Pate Tennis, a company in Statesville that has the city contract to manage the courts.
Employees are out checking on other city parks, greenways and trails, Grant said. They're also clearing drains and brush, preparing for the possibility of another storm
this weekend."Right now we don't know of any other (major) damage besides Hanes Park," Grant said.
Damage estimates for Hanes Park are still being tallied and will depend in large part on damage to the courts.
"It could be $60,000," Grant said. "If the hard courts are damaged, it could be more than that. It could be $100,000 — we just don't know at this point."
There was also flooding on South Main Street, between the Gateway and the entrance to the N.C. School of the Arts.
Red mud coated South Main near Waughtown Road and some nearby business owners spent part the morning pumping out water and drying carpets.
Tim Falls of Falls Automotive Service on South Main was one of them.
"I got about 15 gallons from the front of the building," Falls said. "The whole building probably had an inch or two of water. This is probably the worst I've seen it."
The storms started marching through about 8 p.m. and were still hitting some areas of the Triad at midnight. The weather service reported that 4 inches of rain fell on southern Forsyth County by that time; 3 inches fell in the area around Smith Reynolds Airport in Winston-Salem.
In Surry County, dime-size hail fell in Elkin, Dobson, Mount Airy and Pilot Mountain, said John Shelton, Surry's director of emergency services. It caused a small amount of damage to things made of light-gauge metal, he said. There were no reports of vehicle damage.
"We were very fortunate," he said. "It was a very dangerous situation."
There was also hail the size of peas in northwest Stokes County and the Francisco community, said Greg Collins, the county's assistant director of emergency services. "It was very minimum, and there was no damage," he said. The extent of the damage in Stokes was a few fallen trees.
A flood warning for Stokes and Rockingham counties has been cancelled.
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The Downtown Summer Music Series will begin on Thursday. Ed Bumgardner talks to some of the organizers of the Downtown Jazz lineup, in which a form of music known as "smooth jazz" will play a more prominent role this year.
Thursday's relish stories will appear in the Entertainment section.
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