Rain, hail hit Triangle overnight

The National Weather Service received 41 reports of hail and nine reports of wind damage, mostly concentrated in central and southeastern North Carolina.

"You can see a stream of storms that laid down some hail" in a rough line from Stokes County southeast through Raleigh and Fayetteville to Onslow and Carteret counties, WRAL Meteorologist Mike Moss said.

Hail and heavy rains, accompanied by thunder, swept through southern Orange County about midnight, bringing several reports of downed trees and power lines in Chapel Hill.

Powerful winds ripped up a huge tree at 300 W. University Drive. It fell on a parked car and a taxi cab that was passing by. The taxi driver was shaken but unhurt.

In neighboring Carrboro, firefighters battled a blaze that broke out in a single-family home in the 1600 block of Pathway Drive. Flames were through the roof of the structure when fire trucks were first called. The cause was not immediately known.

In Sanford, golf-ball-sized hail was reported, and hail of varying sizes was also seen in Durham, Cary and Garner.

In Cary, parts of a tree went through the window of an apartment complex. Trees were also reported down in Moore County.

Winds reportedly ripped up trees around Spivey's Corner in Sampson County. The NWS also reported wind damage in Duplin County, where a roof was torn off a mobile home.

Earlier Friday, a separate system spawned three possible tornadoes in northeastern coastal counties.

One twister destroyed a barn on Glovers Crossroads and damaged other barns along Harrells Road, near the Bertie-Hertford county line. A second reportedly tore the roof off a peanut storage building in Chowan county.

A third possible tornado also downed trees around Harrellsville in Hertford.

The overnight storms were the second bout of severe weather to pound central and eastern North Carolina since Thursday. Rainfall amounts over that time period varied considerably.

Over the past 36 hours, Siler City got close to an inch and a half of rain, and Erwin and Kenansville also received more than an inch. Chapel Hill and Asheboro came in around nine-tenths of an inch.

Raleigh, Rocky Mount and Louisburg each reported around half-an-inch.

Roxboro, Oxford, Roanoke Rapids, Kinston and Clinton all got under a tenth of an inch, while Fayetteville, Muxton and Lumberton have not seen any rain yet.