EF-3 tornado 1 year: Golfers, first responders recount life-changing day in Nash, Edgecombe counties
NORTH CAROLINA (WTVD) -- July 19th marks exactly one year since a fast moving tornado devastated communities in Nash and Edgecombe counties.
The tornado touched down near the town of Dortches destroying multiple homes, before strengthening to an EF-3 tornado, hitting the Rocky Mount Pfizer plant causing significant damage, and reaching the town of Battleboro.
It reached wind gusts of up to 150 miles per hour and went over 16 miles.
Thankfully, there were no lives lost, but it's estimate to have caused over $300 million in damage.
A year later, we're taking a look back at those impact on how they are moving forward.
The Golfers
If you go out golfing with Bob Norman, you can't pass Hole 10 at the Belmont Lakes Golf Course without hearing the story.
"The old saying it sounded like a train well it really sounded like a 747 was getting ready to take off right here," Norman says.
The EF-3 tornado hit so quickly, with the wind strong enough to stop his golf cart right in its tracks.
"I turned the corner I didn't stop the wind stopped me right where my cart is, I woke up and I was somewhere on the cart path here, the golf car was over here where that dirt path is," he says.
Bob was briefly knocked out, and by the time he got up, it was over.
"I started walking out on the golf cart path and finally found my phone. It was my wife. And she wanted to know if I knew there was a tornado in the area," he says.
His golf buddy Pat Smith was a few holes ahead of him and got surrounded.
"That's when I got scared. I mean, when I saw it coming down the pond, bank, and then when the tree you start to fall and it goes, they won't know where to go. We couldn't back up. We couldn't go forward," Smith says.
Another friend had to duck into a sandtrap for cover
It wasn't until later they realized how lucky there were that no one was hurt. Across the street, St. Stephen's Loving Daycare with 67 kids inside also survived a near miss from the tornado.
They're just glad to live another day and play another round.
"It makes you think, amazing the power of it, absolutely," Norman says.
The First Responders
At the Rocky Mount Fire Department, newly minted chief Darvin Moore hadn't even been on the job three weeks yet when he suddenly got the biggest call of his career.
"I was just getting acclimated to the position, just trying to find my way. And of course, you know, we had an EF-3 tornado," Chief Moore says.
When the call came in, crews were dispatched to the Belmont Lakes neighborhood with reports of damage and to the Pfizer plant where hundreds were working inside.
After a career in the field, it was hard for the chief not to want to step in himself.
"That was a tough change. Because I'm, of course, into a firefighter. We we're trained to respond to the thing. But from our position that I have to be more of a support role planning, role mitigation role, emergency management role," he says.
That meant managing crews heading into a tough situation, especially at Pfizer with a section of the plant demolished by the tornado and debris everywhere, it was also a safety risk given the medical chemicals housed inside.
"Everything's a fire hazard when you're dealing with a natural disaster, so at any given moment, so any given moment a fire could start, but we are fortunate that a fire did not start," Chief Moore says.
Across town, the Mayor of Dortches saw his small community hit hard.
"It destroyed two homes across the street, one right nextdoor," says Mayor Jackie Vick.
Vick worked with emergency crews and relief efforts to get help where it needed to go.
"People that didn't know anybody in Dortches, a lot of them probably didn't know where Dortches and then all of a sudden the town fills up with people willing to work, people willing to make donations after the fact," he says.
A year later, some are still dealing with damage, but one thing both leaders say they're just glad no lives were lost and their communities are stronger than ever.
"This is definitely a resilient city. So I'm just privilege and honor to be working with such an awesome staff and the awesome community," says Chief Moore.
Building Back in Battleboro
When we first met Edgecombe County Commissioner Evelyn Powell a year ago, she was in the middle of salvaging what she could from the home where she raised her family...
"Two things I've learned in this endeavor, one is that I'm truly blessed, and two is that I have really good neighbors," she told ABC11 at the time.
A year later, that's still true, even when life gets tough. In the whirlwind days after the tornado, people stepped up to help them clean up.
But after all this time, they still haven't been able to move back, forced to drive by and look at what once was.
"And every time something falls off, a little piece of my heart breaks, like Dorothy said on the Wizard of Oz, there's no place like home," Evelyn Powell says.
Insurance covered most of the damage, but after delays and inspections, they still need the county to demolish the old to make way for the new.
"We've purchased a home, we've got the home laying there waiting to come, but they had to do all the preliminaries," she says.
But when it gets frustrating, they think about what they do have. That fateful day, Evelyn wasn't home, but husband James was sitting in the living room watching TV when the tornado warning came, and he had just enough time to close the door.
And it's just a big clap, boom! Whole thing was just like this top and everything was goneJames Powell
Miraculously, James wasn't hurt.
"Got a few scratches on my head at the time, by the time I squat down and got up it was over with," Powell says.
Just down the road, their son's home was also hit.
"I could have been planning two funerals that day as opposed to just somewhere to sleep that, so I still feel blessed in it all," Evelyn Powell.
Blessed to see the community of Battleboro she represents battle-tested but never broken.
WATCH | Video from Battleboro captures tornado winding through Nash County
"Just keep your head up because I'm a living witness that even in the worst of times, you can still rise above it," she says.
UP CLOSE | Neighbor captures when tornado hit couple's Dortches home
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Chopper 11 video shows damage to Pfizer facility right after it was slammed by EF-3 tornado
