Downburst & Tornado Damage Confirmed in Cabarrus, Rowan Counties

CABARRUS COUNTY, N.C. — Harrisburg, NC, resident Adam O’Malley says it all happened in a matter of minutes.

“It really just came on like a sheet of rain and just hit all over.”

“I only saw the left side and it’s like, ‘Oh, it looks okay,’” says O’Malley, describing his neighbors’ house, split in two by a tree. “But, when you come over here, it’s just severe.”

A suspected downburst packing winds upwards of 60 miles per hour brought down a 30-foot tree on Morris Drive, crushing a house and pinning an occupant inside. One person was taken to the hospital with serious injuries but is expected to recover.

Downbursts occur when a strong updraft, or column of rising air, in a thunderstorm suspends rain and hail aloft. But what goes up… must come down.

“Once that updraft couldn’t sustain itself within the thunderstorm,” Clay Chaney, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Greenville-Spartanburg, SC, explains, “The core of all of that liquid just drops and falls to the surface, and eventually it just spreads out really gusty winds in all directions.”

Chaney says the office had its hands full tracking Thursday’s storms.

“There was what seemed like a pretty large swath of damage extending from Harrisburg all the way through Rowan County.”

The damage in Mount Ulla, roughly 20 miles north of Harrisburg, was even worse.

An EF-1 tornado packing 100 mph winds tore a damage path over a mile long through the township, damaging an elementary school and multiple homesteads. Sarah Lomax was in an upstairs room in her house as the tornado roared through her backyard, severely damaging her garage and tearing sheet metal like pieces of paper.

“It reminded me of Hugo, to be honest with you. Hugo was shocking, but you’ve been through it before.”

Lomax plans to rebuild her home and remain in Mount Ulla.