Storm Damage Was Grim for Some in North Raleigh: Thursday’s Sudden Burst of Wind Surprises Neighborhood

By Thomasi Mcdonald, The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.

May 27–RALEIGH — Whirring chain saws made clouds of sawdust in a North Raleigh neighborhood Friday as residents and workers cleaned up from a sudden burst of wind that knocked trees onto houses and cars the night before.

No one was hurt, but homes and yards in the Salem Woods subdivision off Falls of the Neuse Road were battered by heavy rains, quarter-sized hail and a microburst of wind that topped 55 miles per hour.

Thursday’s storm reminded longtime residents of a tornado that racked the nearby Crown Oaks neighborhood in 1988, killing two children.

“There was no warning in 1988, and no warning this time,” said Violet Rhinehart, who lives on Drayton Court. “It came that fast.”

The thunderstorm that ravaged the community followed Interstate 540 across North Raleigh to U.S. 401.

Warmer than normal temperatures and high humidity fueled the storms, said Darin Figurskey, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Raleigh.

“It allowed for instability and it allowed one storm to become pretty strong,” Figurskey said. Although a microburst can happen anytime, he said the phenomenon is fairly common this time of year as temperatures warm.

Enough of that instability remained Friday to bring strong storms to much of the Triangle. About 5,500 Progress Energy customers were without power in Raleigh at 10 p.m., while 6,300 were without power in Johnston County.

The damage from the fallen oak trees was heaviest on Fiesta Way, a quiet street shaded by sturdy trees. A massive oak crashed across the roof and caved in two bedrooms at Mildred Herndon’s one-story red-brick home. The tree’s roots looked as if they had been wrenched from the earth, leaving a gaping 3- or 4-foot-deep hole about 17 feet across.

“Big enough for a spa tub,” said Herndon’s daughter, Phyllis Jackson of Raleigh.

Jackson said her mother was standing in the kitchen and looked out the window and saw a tree come out of the ground and into the rear of her home.

Herndon’s backyard is across the fence from Rhinehart’s, where six more hefty oaks fell, damaging her chimney and gutters.

Rhinehart said she was coming home after dinner with friends when her husband called, worried that it had started to rain and hail. “He said he heard a little whistle,” Rhinehart said. “Five minutes later, the trees were in the yard.”

Meteorologist Figurskey said the hardwood trees may have been easily uprooted because of the heavy rain in recent weeks.

“We have had 300 percent more than normal rainfall from April 22 until May 10,” Figurskey said. “It may have been just enough to loosen things up and knock large trees down.”

(News researcher Paulette Stiles contributed to this report.)

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