By Staff
But, funnel clouds left area relatively unscathed
By CLAUD HODGES
Senior Reporter
Dark clouds brewing Sunday afternoon over southwestern Beaufort County brought the fear of tornadoes forming to strike the ground.
Tornado warnings had been issued for the area by the National Weather Service. A tornado warning is only issued when a sighting has occurred.
Lightening, heavy rain and hail fell from the storm and the clouds had spurned at least two tornadoes.
One swirling tempest of a storm on the south side of the Pamlico River between Chocowinity and Washington could be seen at approximately 4:30 p.m. Sunday from Havens Gardens in Washington.
A funnel appeared from the cloud and seemed to reach to the ground and possibly hit the ground for a few moments.
The funnel slowly moved up and down similar to a sluggish toy top.
The storm moved slow, too.
It moved northwest across the Pamlico River and the ominous cloud enveloped the City of Washington.
At approximately 4:45 p.m., Washington seemed to be vulnerable to the effects of possible strong, deadly weather.
However, the swirling storm trudged on and set its sights toward northwestern Beaufort County. It seemed like it was using U.S. Highway 17 as a track.
Beaufort County’s Old Ford area seemed to be within striking distance when the storm cloud withdrew its potential onslaught.
The Old Ford community has been an area of some fairly frequent tornadic activity in recent years, he said.
Not long after the storm had packed up its punch, Pack reported that he had no reports of damages, nor power outages from its effects.
Other than some small damages due to strong wind, heavy rain and hail, no fire departments nor power companies reported any major problems or outages, he said.