Strong winds bring school closures and more power outages to the Triangle
Powerful winds ripped through the Triangle on Friday, prompting schools to close as the National Weather Service encouraged everyone to avoid travel and outdoor activities.
The winds came a day after 3 to 4 inches of rain fell in the Raleigh-Durham area as a line of storms quickly marched from the mountains to the coast of North Carolina on Thursday.
Forecasters on Friday warned that strong winds could topple trees, especially since the ground was already saturated.
A 54 mph wind gust was reported in Raleigh-Durham just after 7 a.m., the weather service said. Sustained tropical storm-force winds are those between 39 and 75 mph.
A driver was rescued in downtown Raleigh when a tree fell on her car at William Peace University, according to ABC11, The News & Observer’s media partner.
In Durham, ”downed power lines” forced Erwin Road to close near Duke University Hospital on Friday, the city’s police department said.
More than 123,000 homes and businesses are without power as of 12:30 p.m., according to the N.C. Department of Public Safety. Nearly 11,000 of the outages were in Wake County, and more than 7,000 in Durham County.
Forecasters said the strongest winds would last until 1 p.m. and “breezy” conditions would continue throughout the afternoon.
Several Triangle school districts canceled classes, including Wake and Durham.
Wake County schools said students will not have to make up the missed day. “All calendars will use banked time,” the district tweeted.
Durham Public School will make up the day Wednesday, Feb. 12, the district said.
The strongest winds were predicted along U.S. 1 and to the east, including Laurinburg and Fayetteville to Goldsboro and Rocky Mount, the NWS said. A gust of 47 mph was reported in Greenville and 40 mph in Monroe on Friday, according to a NWS tweet.
Thursday’s storms
The line of strong storms that marched across North Carolina on Thursday moved faster than forecasters had predicted as it dumped rain and spawned at least one tornado.
In Wake County, the National Weather Service received reports of quarter-sized hail and toppled trees after 2 p.m. Thursday.
“Thunderstorm winds picked up and tossed a backyard playground 45 feet” near Garner and destroyed “barns and outbuildings” near Rolesville, the reports said.
An EF-1 tornado with wind speeds reaching 100 mph touched down in Liberty, a town in Randolph County and roughly 60 miles west of Raleigh, the National Weather Service said.
Two people died in the Charlotte region Thursday as a result of the storms.
A driver reportedly died when his truck hydroplaned and overturned in a creek in Gaston County, according to The Charlotte Observer.
Another driver, south of Charlotte in York County, S.C., died when a tree fell on his car, multiple media outlets reported, according to the Observer.
This story was originally published February 7, 2020 at 6:55 AM.
