THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, April 16, 1996 TAG: 9604160294
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: ZEBULON LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
A severe storm that spawned a tornado struck a mobile home park Monday evening in Wake County, destroying more than a dozen homes, authorities said.
The National Weather Service reported that one person was killed inside a mobile home around 6:15 p.m., but that was not confirmed immediately by local authorities.
Trees blocked the main thoroughfare into downtown Zebulon Monday night, and the fire department was redirecting around the town about 20 miles east of Raleigh.
The weather office said 17 mobile homes were destroyed and four others were damaged at the West Side Mobile Home Park.
WRAL-TV in Raleigh reported extensive damage to Zebulon Middle School, while video from an amateur photographer showed a funnel cloud near U.S. 64.
Charles Bullock, who works for an auto dealership in Zebulon, said the Ford parking lot and surrounding area were a mess.
``We see pine trees broke in half, you see vehicles picked up out of the dealership and thrown,'' Bullock told Durham television station WTVD. ``There are vehicles on top of vehicles. . . . Cars are stacked up on cars.''
``They said it sounded like a freight train coming down the road and they saw it coming and before they could get out of the way, it cut through,'' Bullock said.
The Wake County storms came following an afternoon of heavy rains, high winds and possible tornadoes in several Eastern North Carolina counties.
In Acme-Delco in Columbus County, strong winds caused thousands of dollars in property damage.
The winds, which may have been from a tornado, knocked down power lines, blew off roofs and broke windows.
No one was hurt, but students at a nearby school had to take cover after they saw spinning winds headed their way, WWAY-TV reported.
``The tops of pump houses had lifted off and were in those spinning winds, and we got all the kids into the halls for a tornado drill and when we came out about 10 minutes later to see what kind of damage there were several cars with the windows out, the gym had windows blown out and our greenhouse was demolished,'' said Dean Peterson, principal of Acme-Delco Middle School.
Possible tornadoes also were reported in Frankin, Harnett, Cumberland, Pender, Lenoir, Duplin, Greene and Pitt counties.
A tornado watch was issued by the National Weather Service until 1 a.m. today for most of central and eastern North Carolina.
Several roads were closed in Selma in Johnston County because of standing water caused by thunderstorms. Hail fell in Johnston, Harnett and Robeson counties, and power lines were downed in Cumberland County.
KEYWORDS: STORM FATALITY by CNB