Residents Recover After Storms Hit Central NC; 19 poles crashed at Wilson

WILSON, NC (WNCN) – Crews were out Friday to repair more than a dozen utility poles that were downed in storms overnight.

The storm line moved across central North Carolina in the early hours of Friday morning, leaving 14,000 people without power in the Wilson area.

The number of dropouts had dropped to 50 by noon, but not before the Wilson County School District canceled classes on Friday.

Along Forest Hills Road in Wilson, crews lifted at least 19 utility poles that were knocked over by high winds.

In Lucama, the storms ripped off the roof of Zachary Wilder’s home on Bass Road.

“It was awful. Big hail is falling. I honestly don’t know what it was, whether it was a tornado or just straight line winds,” Wilder said.

He said it sounded like a train going through.

Wilder and his wife Logan said they are likely to move now.

“It could have been worse,” Wilder said. “Things can be replaceable, you know what I mean. I’d rather hurt the house than us or the kids and stuff.”

A spokesman for Wilson said crews from other communities arrived early Friday to help.

Rachel Price lives in Lucama and said she was woken up by the storm. Her strength came back this morning.

“I was lying in bed, I heard the rain and it woke me up,” she said. “And I could hear a little hail, not much hail, and I just lay there and prayed for a while. And then this morning I got up and walked around and the lights were out, you know the power was out.”

The spokesman said the city hopes to open part of the closed section of Forest Hills Road by Friday night, but it would likely take days for the entire road to open.

She is not aware of any injuries from the storm.