Trees come crashing down, power out after fast-moving storms
A strong, fast-moving thunderstorm lashed much of the viewing area later Thursday night, sending trees crashing down and leaving thousands without power.
In Raleigh, a large oak tree snapped and smashed through a home in the Stonehenge neighborhood off Creedmoor Road, near Interstate 540.
Branches crashed down on the master bathroom, a sunroom, and took out the top section of the house's brick chimney. It barely missed a car, but took out a side mirror.
The family told ABC11 that they were at a neighbors' house when they heard a loud crash. They said had they been at home at the time, they would've been sitting in the sunroom and would have likely suffered severe injury.
The Durham Sheriff's Office tweeting a picture of a patrol with a tree down on it. The vehicle was parked at the time and no one was hurt.
Several trees and power lines were reported down across the ABC11 viewing area after the line of strong to severe thunderstorms began moving into the Triangle around 9 p.m. - leaving around 12,000 people in Durham and Wake counties without power overnight.
Power crews worked through the night to repair downed lines. By 6 a.m. Friday, less than 2,000 people were still in the dark, according to Duke Energy's website.
On Jarvis Street in Raleigh, three power poles were snapped due to fallen tree debris. The lights are still out for several blocks surrounding the area, but crews said it should be repaired by mid-morning.
In Person County as storms moved through shortly before 9 p.m., Roxboro Police Chief David Hess asked residents to stay indoors as a strong thunderstorm passed overhead. He said some power outages were reported in the area.
A new storm system will approach from the west Friday,bringing more showers and rumbles of thunder, mainly later in the day into the night and into Saturday morning, ABC11 Meteorologist Don "Big Weather" Schwenneker said.
"This system will become a strong low pressure just off of the northeast coast, basically a nor'easter," he said. "However, it will have minimal effects on our weekend weather. Although, we will have improvement Saturday afternoon, and a significant warm-up Sunday."
