Tropical Storm Debby spins up tornadoes, dumps rain in North Carolina
Coeur d'Alene Press | UPDATED 5 months, 2 weeks AGO
Randy Sikes speaks to his relatives on a mobile phone as he stands in residual rain water flooding the downtown area caused by Tropical Storm Debby, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2024, in Bladenboro, NC. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)
By MAKIYA SEMINERA, JOHN MINCHILLO and ALLEN G. BREED Associated Press
LUCAMA, N.C. — Tornadoes spawned by Tropical Storm Debby leveled homes, damaged a school and killed one person early Thursday, as the system dropped heavy rain and flooded communities across North and South Carolina.
It only took 15 seconds for a tornado to devastate Genesis Cooper’s home in Lucama, North Carolina, a small town about 40 miles (64 kilometers) east of Raleigh. He almost slept through it — if not for an alert on his wife’s phone.
He, his wife and their 20-year-old son huddled in a bathroom with blankets. They felt vibrations and heard glass shattering before hearing a sudden boom.
“I can’t even describe it. It’s like, suction, that’s what it felt like,” Cooper said. “Like something is squeezing, like your ears are popping.”
The tornado was one of at least three reported overnight in North Carolina, and perhaps the most devastating. One person was found dead in a home damaged by the Lucama tornado, Wilson County spokesman Stephen Mann said in an email. No further details on the person were immediately provided.
Cooper said the tornado was so intense, the wind gusts dragged a large punching bag out of his son’s bedroom and flung it into the living room, knocking his son’s door off the hinges. Parts of their home’s roof and walls were torn off, causing water to leak inside. The side windows were busted out, and the backyard pool deck was damaged.
Despite it all, Cooper seemed to be calm, saying that he knew they were in God’s hands.
“This is just stuff. It can be replaced,” Cooper said.
Theresa Richardson hunkered down with her husband and granddaughter in the closet of their Lucama home as the tornado tore through about a mile away.
Debris struck the house. And they could hear the roof of nearby Springfield Middle School being ripped off.
Richardson said tornadoes have struck the area before, and her neighbors call the road they live on “tornado alley.”
The superintendent of Wilson County Schools confirmed damage at Springfield Middle School, where sections of the walls and roof of the 6th and 7th grade halls are gone or compromised.
“It was heartbreaking to see the school right after the event,” Superintendent Lane Mills said in a statement.
