Man escapes to safety after wind knocks tree down onto home

ROCK HILL, S.C. — The National Weather Service confirmed on Monday that investigators in Rock Hill did not find evidence of a tornado after strong storms moved through over the weekend.

Straight-line winds got as high as 90 mph and hail from Saturday’s storms caused widespread damage including the city of York, through Rock Hill, and to the Lancaster County line.

There was very large hail ranging from 2 to2.75 inches (hen-egg to baseball size) that was being driven by the wind.

“This wind-driven hail further exacerbated damage to trees, structures and vehicles,” the NWS said.

Severe thunderstorms bring large hailstones, cut power to thousands in SC

Resident Kirk Douglas was watching TV in the front room of his Rock Hill home Saturday evening when high winds hit.

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“I just heard the cracking, heard the cracking and I jumped up, then next thing I know, it’s just ‘Wham!’” Douglas said. “I was just so devastated. I couldn’t even believe it. That I got out of there because where I was sitting a piece of sheetrock fell over me and covered me until I got to the front door. And if I hadn’t moved quick enough, the beam came down right behind the sheetrock where I was sitting.”

No tornado in Rock Hill over the weekend, according to @NWSGSP — but “very rare” levels of damage

More at 5 on @wsoctv with a homeowner whose house was leveled https://t.co/5CclYM3fqP
— Evan Donovan (@EvanDonovan) April 22, 2024

Douglas said he kicked out a window screen, climbed out and ran to his neighbor’s home, which was also damaged by a fallen tree.

“Yeah, actually it was terrifying,” he said. “I was waiting for stuff to come through my house. Literally, the worst of the storm, 20 minutes, and then it was gone.”

Douglas said he wants to rebuild.

The NWS explained why there wasn’t a tornado recorded.

“The environment at the time was not supportive of tornadoes with a lack of wind shear in the lowest levels of the storm necessary for the formation of tornadoes. Data from multiple radars also did not indicate any low-level rotation that would indicate a possible tornado,” the NWS said.

There is likely not enough damage in the county to qualify for a federal emergency disaster, the York County emergency manager said.

This process includes the interrogation of radar data, the state of the environment during the storm, and clues left by the damage such as the direction that trees were blown down and areal extent of damage. pic.twitter.com/9AYAPGBptI
— NWS GSP (@NWSGSP) April 22, 2024