Fallen trees, power outages after storm

Wednesday afternoon saw weather conditions ripe for tornadoes.

Tornado warnings went out across the county, alerting residents to a potential tornado touchdown.

Warnings are only issued if a tornado has been sighted or weather radars indicate a tornado will occur, according to the National Weather Service.

In Chapel Hill and Carrboro, no tornadoes touched down.

Chapel Hill Police Department spokesperson Lt. Joshua Mecimore said several trees were knocked down in parts of Chapel Hill due to the strong winds, though.

Downed trees blocked roadways in four locations, including Cobb Terrace, Kenmore near Shady Lawn, Fordham near Eastowne Drive and Homestead Road past Northern Park Drive.

Carrboro Police Captain Chris Atack said the wind knocked down a telephone pole, but there were no injuries or building damage due to weather during the tornado warning.

Danielle Peoples, a communications consultant with Duke Energy, said there were about 553 outages across Orange County.

Chapel Hill Town Hall on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard lost power at 4 p.m. the night of the storm, canceling the town’s night meetings. Apartment complexes on the road also lost power around the same time.

Peoples said some repair crews were delayed because of high winds.

“When wind gusts exceed 35 miles per hour, it is unsafe for us to extend our bucket trucks,” Peoples said.

Atack said Carrboro police were prepared for accidents due to the weather.

“With the information we had over the last couple of days about potential severe weather, the police department, public works and the fire department put an operations plan together should there be damage,” Atack said.

The tornado warning was canceled 

Hillsborough residents Kemp and Philip Chalmers said the tornado warning did not cause them any major problems.

“I was on the way to work when all the rain and stuff was coming down,” Kemp Chalmers said.

“So besides making it take longer to get to work, I didn’t have any problems.”

Philip Chalmers said he hadn’t heard of any instance when the town responded in an untimely manner to emergency situations.

Chapel Hill resident Martin Lehmann said he lost power in his house for a night.

He said his power was not restored until midnight.

The safest place to be during a tornado is in a basement and away from any windows that could be possibly broken by high winds or debris.

The town made helpful information and safety tips available on their website before the storms blew through Chapel Hill.

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