Tropical Storm Elsa topples trees, power lines in North Carolina

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Heavy rain and strong wind gusts associated with Tropical Storm Elsa caused some damage across central North Carolina on Thursday.

The first rain drops in North Carolina fell around 5 a.m. but by 11 a.m. all of Elsa had arrived.

The storm dumped a lot of rain in the Triangle--including 2.52 inches at Raleigh-Durham International Airport.

For several hours, North Carolinians from the Sandhills to the Virginia border dealt with the blanketing rain and popup tornado warnings.

The National Weather Service in Morehead City, North Carolina, tweeted that a tornado was spotted near Fairfield on Thursday afternoon.

Thankfully, Elsa pulled out of the region without causing widespread destruction. The storm was blamed for one death in Florida and 10 injuries in Georgia.

Elsa did topple several trees in North Carolina and knocked out power to several thousand people.

As of Friday morning, crews are working to cleanup a couple downed trees and restore power to a few hundred homes. But for the most part, Elsa left without causing too much damage.

Emergency responders also noted an increase in calls concerning car crashes. At least one of the crashes was fatal.