NORTH CAROLINA – Rescue crews searched for survivors in wind-blasted landscapes in North Carolina last night, the state hardest hit by a storm system that spawned dozens of tornadoes from Oklahoma to Virginia and left at least 45 people dead.
North Carolina accounted for the bulk of casualties and property losses, with 22 people killed and more than 80 injured. The storm spun off 62 tornadoes there on Saturday night. Significant damage was reported in at least 15 counties and power was out to more than 200,000 people.
Seven people died as a result of the storms in Alabama, seven died in Arkansas and one died in Mississippi, while two people were killed in Oklahoma when a tornado destroyed buildings.
It appeared to be the deadliest US storm since February 2008, when 57 people died from tornadoes in the south and Ohio Valley, said AccuWeather.com meteorologist Andy Mussoline. He added that the 45 death roll could change. “I would expect that total to rise, unfortunately,” he said.
The storms began in Oklahoma on Thursday and then moved through the south and hit the east coast by Saturday. There were 241 tornadoes reported, with 50 confirmed.
Dominion Virginia Power said the two nuclear reactors at its Surry Power Station in southeastern Virginia shut down automatically on Saturday when an apparent tornado touched down and cut off an electrical feed to the station.
Back-up generators operated normally and both units “are in safe and stable condition”, the utility said.
“No release of radioactive material has occurred beyond those minor releases associated with normal station operations,” the Dominion Resources company said. “These minor releases are below federally approved operating limits and pose no threat to station workers or the public.”
North Carolina governor Beverly Perdue declared a state of emergency on Saturday night.
Statewide, high winds destroyed 60 houses and damaged 400 others, said Julia Jarema, a spokeswoman for the North Carolina division of emergency management. – (Reuters)