Strong storms migrate east; downed trees left in wake

After a mild Thursday, be prepared for stormy skies throughout the night and into the early morning hours. Temperatures will be mild with lows in the 60s.

Posted 9:10 a.m. May 5, 2017 — Updated 6:04 p.m. Jul 13, 2018

RALEIGH, N.C. — Tornado watches were in effect Friday morning for most counties around central North Carolina as strong storms rolled through the region.

Durham, Cumberland, Harnett, Orange, Johnston and Wake counties were among those blanketed in tornado watches. Severe thunderstorm warnings flickered on and off in the same counties, dumping plenty of rain and sparking bolts of lightning.

As those storms move east, they will continue to bring strong winds that could cause some damage to property. Roughly 2,000 Duke Energy customers were without power in Durham County on Friday morning, though it's unclear what caused the outage.

"You will see heavy rain, you will likely have some wind damage, and we'll be watching for any rotation in these (storms)," said WRAL meteorologist Elizabeth Gardner. "This straight-line wind can do as much damage as a small tornado so you certainly need to be paying attention to what's happening."

Later in the morning, though, the rain will die down and the sun will come out.

"Once this first line comes through, this will probably be the worst of it," Gardner said.

Friday will be mostly cloudy to partly sunny and cooler with scattered showers and thunderstorms, mainly in the morning. Afternoon highs will be in the upper 60s to mid 70s.