The fatal storm system that surged through central North Carolina “severely damaged” areas of Shaw University as well as affected students at Saint Augustine’s College. A representative for the University says the campus was “severely damaged” but no students or University personnel were injured in the storm.
Tornadoes and other severe storms that smashed North CarolinaSaturday afternoon killed at least 10 people, officials said. The National Weather Service said tornado were sighted in 19 counties and it had received unconfirmed reports of at least 10 deaths in all, The Charlotte Observer reported. “More than likely we had eight tornadoes in North Carolina,” Gail Hartsfield, an NWS meteorologist inRaleigh, said. The Observer and the Bladen Journal said the deaths included three people in a mobile home park in northeast Raleigh, three deaths in Bladen County, one in Sanford and another in Cumberland County. “We got down in the bathroom, and we knelt down on the floor, and I was hollering and hollering,” said storm survivor Brenda McClamroch, who lives in southwest Wake with her husband Tenny. “It all happened in a split-second, and it was awful.” State officials said rescue teams were searching for people reported missing in Lee and Cumberland counties. “There is still a lot we don’t know tonight as we begin recovering from the most severe, widespread tornadoes we have seen since the mid-1980s,” Doug Hoell, state emergency management director, told reporters at a news conference. The Observer said one twister roared through Sanford, producing a mile-long path of destruction. Roofs were torn off a Lowe’s building center in Sanford and off the student center at Shaw University inRaleigh
“With dormitory rooms damaged and the Willie E. Gary Student Center — which houses the university’s cafeteria — devastated, Shaw moved quickly to provide food and shelter to all students affected by the storm,” the University said in a release. The student center sustained the brunt of the damage, with a hole being ripped in the roof. The Red Cross opened a shelter at Southeast Raleigh High School, which will house many of the displaced students.
