Residents recover from severe weather

The slow moving storms produced a large amount of lightning and hail Tuesday night, WRAL Chief Meteorologist Greg Fishel said.

A large oak tree hit a house, located at 2678 Boyle Road in Hoke County, ripping off its backside roof, toppling bricks and crushing cars. Four people were trapped inside the home. Emergency officials said the people were trapped for two hours before one of them broke free of the rubble and called 911. Rescuers used chainsaws and air bags to free them. They were taken to the hospital as a precaution.

A similar incident happened in Cumberland County just off N.C. 24 near I-95 in the Vander area. A large sweet gum tree sliced through a Rivanna Drive home, just east of Fayetteville. The tree came to rest beside the bed where Tanisha Kelly, 11, was lying. She said the debris that fell on top of her was “heavy.”

Tanisha said she was in her parents’ room when everything came crashing down on her. She said it felt like a “car wreck.”

Tanisha’s father, James Kelly, described the incident as a “big boom.”

The American Red Cross has put the Kelly family in a hotel for the next three nights.

In Johnston County, a vacant house in the Buffalo Creek subdivision of Zebulon caught fire after it was hit by lightning. Nearby, another home on Amsterdam Drive was also damaged when it was struck by lightning.

There were also reports of fallen trees and downed power lines across Johnston County.