Triangle braces for strong storms Sunday after tornado watches, one in NC killed
Parts of Orange County and Alamance County were under a tornado watch through early Sunday afternoon as the Triangle braced for the severe storms that are passing through the southern United States.
The National Weather Service issued tornado warnings for the towns of Mebane, Hillsborough, Saxapahaw, and Efland through 12:15 p.m. The NWS issued a separate special weather statement for Raleigh, Durham, and Fayetteville that encouraged people to “seek shelter in a sturdy structure” until 1 p.m. as winds were expected to reach 40 mph.
Much of the Triangle region has a general severe thunderstorm warning until 5 p.m. Sunday.
Deadly tornado swept through the Southeast this weekend, with three reported deaths so far. One of these fatalities occurred in North Carolina’s Iredell County, north of Charlotte, where the local sheriff’s office said a fallen tree killed a person in a car.
The Charlotte area was under a tornado warning until 1 p.m. Sunday. More than 600 flights have been delayed out of Charlotte Douglas International Airport, with more than 20,000 reported power outages in the region as of midday.
As of 1:00 p.m. Sunday, the Duke Energy outage map showed around 3,000 customers without power in an area covering South Durham and Cary after an object hit power lines. Duke expects to restore service to the area by 2:15 p.m.
This story was originally published December 29, 2024 at 1:32 PM.
