Thursday's storms unleashed heavy rain and straight-line wind that caused dozens of traffic accidents, uprooted trees, and knocked down power lines across North Carolina. Some areas got up to 5 inches of rain. Here's a roundup of where some of the worst damage occurred.

1. IREDELL COUNTY. An elderly Iredell man went to a hospital with serious injuries after a tornado demolished his mobile home, said Paul Webster, deputy emergency management coordinator for Iredell County. Five others living in the same mobile home park suffered minor injuries. Another mobile home park, three miles away, also suffered damage, Webster said.

2. MECKLENBURG COUNTY. A Charlotte man who has not been identified was killed Thursday in a weather-related wreck on Interstate 77 north of Charlotte. The wreck involved six vehicles traveling north on the interstate during downpours about 7 a.m. Thursday, said state Highway Patrol Trooper E.B. Miller. The man died after his passenger car was hit by a garbage truck, which was immediately rear-ended by a tractor-trailer. A second person was killed in a traffic accident in Columbus County.

3. WAKE COUNTY. The storm was blamed for between 75 and 100 accidents in Wake County, though none caused serious injury, said Jesse Creech, supervisor on duty at the Raleigh 911 center. Power went out in Wendell and in Raleigh briefly, Creech said, but it has been restored. Power outages hit 45,000 statewide but had fallen to 3,500 at 5 p.m.

4. DURHAM COUNTY. Several weather-related accidents were reported on N.C. 147 near the T.W. Alexander Drive exit. A drain was clogged, flooding part of one lane, but it was quickly cleared. Part of the 1500 block of Pettigrew Street in Durham was flooded and closed to traffic. An N.C. Central University campus police officer hydroplaned in his personal vehicle off N.C. 147 near the Cornwallis Road exit and landed in a median ditch. Officer Michael Shaw suffered minor injuries to his leg in the early morning accident and was resting at home Thursday afternoon.

5. JOHNSTON COUNTY. There were several reports of tornadoes in Johnston County, prompting students to briefly take cover under desks. No tornado was reported to have made contact with the ground, said Jason Barbour, a supervisor at the Johnston County 911 center. Other than that, a few wrecks and downed trees were the extent of the damage.

6. STATE CAPITOL. An oak that had rotted inside was knocked to the ground, damaging two birdbaths, said Capt. Ben Franklin of the State Capitol Police. An arborist was called in to test the strength of the other trees, Franklin said.

Powerful thunderstorms moved through North Carolina Thursday morning, spawning a lethal tornado. The trouble started two days earlier in east Texas when cold air from the north collided with warm air from the south, fueling heavy rain, high winds and multiple tornadoes.

(COMPILED FROM REPORTS BY STAFF WRITERS ANDREA WEIGL AND MATT DEES, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, AND THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER.)

Tracking the bad weather

WHAT IS A TORNADO WATCH? The Storm Prediction Center of the National Weather Service issues a watch when radar, satellite and other sensors detect the right conditions for large hail, damaging winds and multiple tornadoes. Typical watches cover about 25,000 square miles.

HOW MANY WATCHES ARE ISSUED? Approximately 1,000 a year nationally.

WHAT IS A TORNADO WARNING? These are issued by the local National Weather Service office, and they are more urgent. They alert residents that severe weather has been observed or is expected soon, and pinpoint a narrower area under threat.

WHY ARE WATCHES NOT ISSUED FOR ALL SEVERE STORMS? Many severe thunderstorms affect only a small area for a short period, making watches impractical. Watches are issued primarily for areas where significant severe weather is possible, or the severe weather threat is expected to persist for many hours.

(STORM PREDICTION CENTER OF THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE)

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WHERE TO MAKE DONATIONS

At least two places in Riegelwood were taking cash and clothing for tornado victims:

* RIEGELWOOD BAPTIST CHURCH, 101 Cornwallis Road, Riegelwood, NC, (910) 655-3347

* RIEGELWOOD FEDERAL CREDIT UNION, 183 John Riegel Road, Riegelwood, NC, (910) 655-2274