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NWS confirms EF-0 tornado in Durham County

Hundreds of customers in Durham and Chapel Hill were without power Tuesday morning after severe storms with downpours and strong winds brought down trees Monday evening.

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WRAL News
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — The National Weather Service confirmed an EF-0 touched down in Durham County on Monday.

The tornado had maximum wind speeds of 85 miles per hour, according to NWS, and touch down occurred around Glenbrook Drive, De Mille Street, Hinson Drive, Waring Street and Da Vinci Street.

NWS said the tornado then lifted and briefly touched down again along Colonial Heights Drive and Thompson Road.

Hundreds of customers in Durham and Chapel Hill were without power Tuesday morning after severe storms with downpours and strong winds brought down trees Monday evening.

Statewide, more than 4,000 were without power at one point on Tuesday morning.

Residents on Tuesday were cleaning up after severe weather ripped through the Triangle, leaving some neighborhoods in shambles.

Durham and parts of Orange County were some of the hardest hit areas, with numerous trees down onto houses and busy streets. In the Northgate Park neighborhood in Durham, more than 100 households were still without power as of Tuesday afternoon. Four large trees fell on one property on Colonial Heights Drive, where Eduardo Ortega lives.

"It’s not a good feeling," said Ortega. "I have ceiling damage. One of the bathrooms is messed up. And water damage. And roofing damage."

The storms ripped off branches, split trunks and left thousands without power. National Weather Service representatives are expected to visit Durham on Tuesday afternoon to assess whether or not a tornado occurred.

Lawns and roads across central North Carolina were scattered with branches, limbs and even full trees.

A tree fell on a house on Monday as storms swept through the area.

Several reports of trees blocking roads have come in from areas like Wake Forest and Sanford. Near Concord, an EF1 tornado was confirmed with maximum sustained winds of 100 miles per hour.

A tree on Hamilton Road, about a mile and a half away from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, snapped in half falling on top of a nearby apartment.

The tree, completely uprooted, landed on a bedroom in the apartment. A 13-year-old girl was in the living room at the time, though thankfully was unharmed.

The family was displaced by the damage, but their property manager was able to get them a hotel room.

Location: 401 Bon Air Ave, Durham NC
Home of Annie and Darren Smith
No injuries but significant structural damage to home
Photos attached

In Durham, a tree fell into a home, leaving what the residents say was 10 holes in their roof. A brand new Tesla was also totaled when the tree fell.

Just two houses down, their 90 year-old neighbor stood just feet away from where a tree took out the back of his house.

Utility crews are working to address power outages around the Triangle, with Duke Energy reporting over 7,000 outages in the Durham area alone in the immediate aftermath. Some residents were told they may not have power until Tuesday.

Flooding will continue to be a threat, even after the storms pass.

No injuries have been reported as a result of the storms.

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