Tornado, flooding strike Lancaster

Residents of Lancaster County felt the tail end of Frances' fury on Tuesday as a tornado, heavy rains and winds tore up trees, destroyed power lines and flooded some homes.

Emergency workers said they rescued one water-logged motorist trying to cross a street in downtown Lancaster. And in rural Lancaster County, roofs were damaged and at least one mobile home was destroyed after a tornado touched down near the small community of Heath Springs. No injuries were reported in Lancaster or York counties.

"This wasn't a typical thunderstorm that just wreaks havoc," said Keith Wilson, spokesman for Lancaster County Emergency Management. "This was short-lived and spawned off the tropical depression ... it had powerful winds."

Forecasters say this latest storm has brought one of the biggest tornado outbreaks the state has ever seen. There have been more than 20 reports of tornadoes across the state since Frances' storms started to hit the Lowcountry on Monday. More than 30 tornado warnings had been issued by late Tuesday afternoon.

Across the southern Piedmont, area government workers, schools and businesses said the tornado warnings, steady rain and localized flooding altered their day. Schools shuffled students into hallways, Rock Hill city employees huddled in a basement, and Red Cross workers temporarily opened a shelter in downtown Lancaster for families facing flooded homes.

Lancaster emergency workers said they tried to evacuate some mobile homes as water rose to door level, but people wouldn't leave. Lancaster and York counties faced flash flood warnings into the evening.

Some of the storm's biggest damage occurred when a tornado hit a turkey farm. While the turkeys appeared to be unharmed, debris from the barns was found a quarter of a mile away near twisted tree trunks, officials said.

Across the state, no deaths were immediately blamed on the storm. Officials said at least six injuries were reported, none of them major. People were hurt in lower Richland County near Columbia when high winds damaged two mobile homes. In addition, winds or a possible tornado reportedly damaged 30 homes in a southern Sumter County neighborhood.

Locally, hundreds of power outages were reported. About 560 customers were without power in York and Lancaster counties, according to area utilities. Most of those outages were caused by downed trees and were expected to be repaired by Tuesday evening.

York and Lancaster counties' school officials across the area also said they felt lucky. Reports of tornadoes touching ground in South Carolina interrupted their school days. School officials in Rock Hill, Fort Mill and Lancaster said they followed emergency protocol by asking students to sit in the hallways to avoid any flying debris that could have been caused by heavy winds.

School officials said they were notified of emergency alerts by local law enforcement or their own emergency scanners. No damage or injuries were reported at any of the schools.

In Lancaster, students sat for two hours in the hall. School officials canceled after-school activities and said late Tuesday that they may delay the start of school today because of flooded roads.

"It's been an all-day event," said Bryan Vaughn, Lancaster school district's director of school safety and transportation.

Frances is the fifth storm South Carolinians have had to deal with this season. Hurricane Alex made a feint at the coast before hitting North Carolina's Outer Banks early last month. Then Tropical Storm Bonnie, which made landfall in the Florida Panhandle, soaked the state.

Hurricane Charley, after devastating southwest Florida, made a second landfall in Charleston County last month. And Tropical Storm Gaston came ashore a few miles from where Charley made landfall, causing flooding and knocking out power to tens of thousands.

-- THE ASSOCIATED PRESS AND STAFF WRITER J.E.B. WILSON CONTRIBUTED TO THIS REPORT.

-- SARAH JANE TRIBBLE: (803) 327-8507; STRIBBLE@CHARLOTTEOSBERVER.COM