Surveyors: EF-0 Tornado touched down in Warren Co., 85mph winds

Tornado surveyors from the NWS assessing the damage in Warren County said the tornado was an EF-0, or the lowest level of tornado strength, touched down 2 miles north of Wise. The winds for this tornado reached around 85 miles per hour.

The warning was issued for northern Warren County at 7:08 p.m. Wednesday. The National Weather Service said it had high confidence of tornado damage in the Wise-Five Forks Road and William Hawks Road vicinity.

In the area there are numerous uprooted trees and damage to a storage shed.

A man driving his car in the area said when he saw the funnel cloud on the ground and debris spinning inside of it, the first thing in his mind was that he wanted to flee the area.

Steve Barney, volunteer fire chief for the town of Hawtree, said there were several trees knocked down, power lines down and an old shed that collapsed in the area of Paschall Station Road. He also reported damage off US 1, near the Wise-Five Forks Road area.

No one was injured, and there were no reports of people losing their homes.

A tornado warning that had been issued for Wake, Harnett and Chatham counties expired earlier Wednesday. The warnings came from the remains of Tropical Storm Bertha, which made landfall east of Charleston, S.C. around 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Bertha started off as a low pressure system and developed very quickly Wednesday morning thanks to warm ocean temperatures. Areas near Charleston saw up to 2.5 inches of rainfall an hour from Bertha and damaging wind gusts as high as 65 mph.

The Triangle saw some periods of heavy rain after Bertha weakened into a tropical depression Wednesday afternoon.