AVERY COUNTY, N.C. — A strong EF-1 tornado that packed 105 mph winds traveled more than 2.5 miles early Tuesday morning in Avery County, the National Weather Service confirmed.
Meteorologists tracked the tornado, which was about 35 yards wide, through the Flat Springs community into northern Avery County shortly after midnight.
Resident Kim Jones showed Channel 9′s Dave Faherty on Wednesday the trees that fell around her home near Beech Mountain.
“It scared us to death,” she said. “We come out of the trailer and got in the truck and sat because it just kept getting louder and louder and louder.”
The NWS said the tornado cut a 2.5-mile path knocking out power to dozens of homes.
The last confirmed tornado to hit Avery County was in 1965.
Dwight James was cutting the wood cleared from an old school nearby.
“I’ve never witnessed nonstop lightning,” James told Faherty. “It was like a fluttering. It went on for 15 or 20 minutes at a time.”
Everyone here is hoping another 50 years pass before another tornado happens again.
“I thought I had been in a lot of bad storms,” Jones said. “I really did but nothing like this. This was bad.”
Avery County Emergency Management alerted the local fire departments about the approaching storm.
First responders said utility crews had power restored Wednesday.
EF-1 tornados have winds between 86 mph and 110 mph.
No injuries were reported and no homes were damaged.
VIDEO: 2nd tornado touched down in our area Monday, according to reports
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