LUCAMA, N.C. — Tornadoes spawned by Tropical Storm Debby leveled homes, damaged a school and killed one person early Thursday, as the system dropped heavy rain and flooded communities across North and South Carolina.
It only took 15 seconds for a tornado to devastate Genesis Cooper’s home in Lucama, North Carolina, a small town about 40 miles east of Raleigh. He almost slept through it — if not for an alert on his wife’s phone.
He, his wife and their 20-year-old son huddled in a bathroom with blankets. They felt vibrations and heard glass shattering before hearing a sudden boom.
“I can’t even describe it. It’s like, suction, that’s what it felt like,” Cooper said. “Like something is squeezing, like your ears are popping.”
The tornado was one of at least three reported overnight in North Carolina, and perhaps the most devastating. One person was found dead in a home damaged by the Lucama tornado, Wilson County spokesman Stephen Mann said in an email.
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North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said Thursday that the state activated more National Guard troops and added additional vehicles that can rescue people in floods.
Meanwhile, about 100 miles south of Lucama, deputies in Bladenboro posted photos of a patrol car damaged by a fallen tree, and washed-out roads..
Debby made a second landfall in South Carolina early Thursday, the National Hurricane Center said. The first landfall was early Monday on the Gulf Coast of Florida. At least seven people died due to the storm system, which weakened to a tropical depression by late Thursday afternoon.
More flooding was expected in North and South Carolina. Up to 6 more inches of rain could fall before Debby clears those states. Parts of Maryland, upstate New York and Vermont could get similar rainfall totals by the end of the weekend, the National Weather Service said.
