I live one county over from where this video was shot. Last Saturday, I left about noon for the OTB in Virginia to watch racing, particularly the Blue Grass Stakes and the Arkansas Derby, I was aware of a chance of storms, but nothing as bad as this.
At noon, there was more traffic on I-95 than I've seen since last July 4th week. All of the traffic, though, was southbound. Every 4th or 5th car, with a luggage carrier on top. For Easter break, many in the northeast come to the NC and SC beaches.
While at the OTB all afternoon, I didn't notice the storms growing worse, until the satellite feed was lost. For over an hour, the rain outside was pelting and blowing--sideways--the trees bent the same.
Motorists were backed up and halted, south of my county as the storms bore down through Wilson, Cumberland, Robeson, Lee counties, and further points south. North to Halifax, North Hampton, Bertie counties, into southern Va, where I was, as well as counties to the east and to the west. Wake county, (Raleigh) was hard hit. Bertie county, in Northeastern NC, the hardest hit of all.
44 people lost their lives with countless injuries, while homes and businesses were completely obliderated. Some of these could easily be seen (and videoed) sitting in an automobile on I-95, as the tornadoes touched down and spawned up and down the Interstate.
I was lucky, I was 20 miles from the nearest community hit. My county, where I live, the same 20 miles. Again, I and my family were lucky. So many were not. The state was quickly declared a disaster area needing emergency relief. FEMA is now on the ground as are many relief organizations, Red Cross, etc, etc. more tornadoes recorded here than any day in history.
There were more tornadoes recorded here than any day on record. 28, the last count, there may be more to come according to the NWS. The F3s were particularly crushing. These things in a short span of time, on the ground for almost 100 miles--a whole lot of pain and devastation.
Its sad to see so many lose so much so quickly. One family lost 4 children. The photos have been heartwrenching.
Rookies, these things were everywhere, some had NO WHERE to run to get out of harm's way. It wasn't so much a matter of "slack jawed dumbness." It really wasn't.
This is a map of the counties affected by the storms. Its pretty widespread.
http://www.digtriad.com/news/article...In-NC-28-Total
