A Washington woman hoping to win a spot in this summer’s Miss North Carolina scholarship pageant instead found herself fleeing to a basement in the Raleigh Convention Center on Saturday.

Leslie LaVictoire was among 15 young women from across the state competing for the titles of Miss Raleigh, Miss Durham and Miss Tarheel when a deadly tornado passed within blocks of the convention center.

“We were told there was a storm that could be headed toward us, but everybody backstage was focused on the competition,” LaVictoire recalled during a telephone interview. “Then, right before we started talent, word had spread that a tornado was in the area.”

But everyone “kept on with the show” until there was a power outage during the third contestant’s talent performance. The show came to a halt, and then everyone realized how serious the situation was, LaVictoire said.

“When the power outage happened, the entire room was pitch black, so they opened the doors to let light in, and that’s when we saw how dark it was outside. … It was black, basically, at four o’clock in the afternoon,” she said.

Pageant contestants, backstage crew, audience members and judges were rushed into a basement until the danger passed, LaVictoire said.

“We were allowed to go find our family members, and then we went into the basement,” she said. “We stayed in the basement about 20 minutes.”

Since the call to evacuate to the basement came with little or no warning, the contestants were wearing their talent costumes at the time. Some were in evening gowns; one wore a flamboyant Latin-style outfit with a feather headdress, and LaVictoire wore her dance costume, a lace, cream-colored leotard accented with rhinestones. She was able to slip a pair of flip-flops on her feet, she said.

Initially, pageant organizers hoped to continue the competition later that evening or  Sunday. At the time the tornado struck, the contestants had competed in the personal interviews, on-stage questions and swimsuit components of the pageant.

Eventually, it was decided to resume the pageant at 3 p.m. April 30. The contestants and judges will pick up where they left off, staging the talent and evening-gown competitions and crowning three young women who will compete for the Miss North Carolina title in June. The winner of that pageant will compete for the Miss America crown early next year.

The postponement of the pageant adds a little extra pressure for the young women who are crowned, LaVictoire said.

“I guess the biggest thing is that, should I win, there is a pretty tight window to get ad pages and financial support,” she said. “But I’m thankful that I get to practice my talent more.”

Meanwhile, LaVictoire was back in her hometown of Washington on Wednesday to volunteer with the local Special Olympics, her pageant community-service platform. She was cheering on her younger brother, Perry, a Special Olympics athlete.

LaVictoire’s quest for the Miss North Carolina crown began last year when she entered the Miss Eastern Carolina pageant, where she won the people’s choice award. She entered again, finishing as first runner-up; she also later took first runner-up honors in the Miss Kinston-Lenoir and Miss Goldsboro competitions.