Deadly tornado in eastern NC          
Fri Apr 16 1999 12:08 EST     
       
Kelli Miller, weather.com           

Severe weather stormed across the
Carolinas Thursday night, spawning 
tornadoes, pounding rains and wind
gusts up to 165 mph.             

One man died when high winds
whipped through a mobile home park     
in Robeson County, N.C., about 8      
p.m. EDT. Tom Ditt, spokesman for       
the North Carolina Emergency         
Management Agency said more than 60      
mobile homes were damaged or destroyed.
he tornado swept through North Carolina, county by
county, demolishing homes, churches and restaurants from
the border of South Carolina all the way to the Outer
Banks.

Winds toppled railroad cars and knocked down power
lines, prompting the closure of Highway 17 near
Bridgeton, N.C. One person was seriously injured when a
tornado roared by Highway 111 in Catherine Lake, N.C.
Severe weather slams central Georgia
Before moving into the Carolinas, severe storms gutted
the small towns of Vienna and Metter, Ga., Thursday,
prompting Gov. Roy Barnes to declare a state of
emergency there. A tornado wiped out nearly 2 dozen
homes and damaged about 60 more. The Woodward apartment
complex was completely destroyed, said Ken Davis,
spokesman for the Georgia Emergency Management Agency.
The vicious storm system began its destructive rampage
in Texas on Wednesday, where it ripped through Conroe,
flattening a shopping mall. It pounced on Jasper County,
Miss., that night, killing one person.
Meteorologists at The Weather Channel say there is no
threat of severe weather today.

Copyright © 1999, The Weather Channel Enterprises, Inc.

Reproduction in full or part is prohibited without
permission