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Date Published: September 8, 2004
Twisters menace area homes
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Keith Gedamke / The Item
Residents of Ithica Drive sort through the rubble of
two homes to find their neighbor’s valuables Tuesday
after a tornado struck several homes in the Forest Acres
subdivision. |
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By KRISTA PIERCE
Item Staff Writer
kristap@theitem.com
The remnants of Hurricane Frances spawned tornadoes in
Sumter, Lee and Clarendon counties Tuesday morning, destroying homes
and injuring three Sumter residents.
According to Vic Jones,
director of public safety for Sumter County, 50 homes and buildings
were damaged during the storm, including a site-built home and five
mobile homes that were destroyed, causing an estimated $1.6 million
in damage.
Three people in the Forest Lakes subdivision off
Kolb Road were injured during the storms. Leroy Woods, interim
director of Sumter County Emergency Services, said the victims
suffered lacerations and neck and back injuries. All were
transported to Tuomey Regional Medical Center, where two of the
injured people were treated and released. The third suffered more
serious injuries from being trapped under debris in her Forest Lakes
home and was admitted to the hospital. She remained in serious
condition Tuesday afternoon.
Woods was on the scene in
Forest Lakes minutes after the tornado struck. He was shocked by the
devastation.
"The one I went to had two mobile homes -- one
seemed like it had been picked up and moved off its foundation and
turned over," he said. "The mobile home beside it was totally
demolished. Pieces of wood were everywhere. Down the road, there
were two mobile homes that looked like they'd smashed into each
other."
Also, a trailer serving as a temporary office space
at the Gold Kist hatchery on Starks Ferry Road was blown over. The
four people inside the trailer were not inured.
In Lee
County, four confirmed tornadoes struck communities near Bishopville
Tuesday morning, resulting in significant property damage but no
injuries, according to Lee County emergency management
officials.
"I've been doing this for five years," said Tres
Atkinson, Lee County's emergency management officer, "and this is
the first time we've had confirmed tornadoes. We've had sightings in
the past but we know we had tornadoes this morning."
Atkinson
said a mobile home located on Elmore Road near the Browntown
community was completely destroyed, and at least four mobile homes
had significant damage to their foundations. Atkinson estimated that
more than 20 mobile homes and homes suffered minor
damages.
In Clarendon County, emergency officials confirm
reports of three funnel clouds. Residents reported that a tornado
touched down at Goat Island outside of Summerton, uprooting trees
and spreading debris across the roadways.
Anthony Mack,
director of emergency preparedness for Clarendon County, said no
damage or injuries were reported.
In Sumter, the National
Weather Service spotted a tornado on radar at 8:25 a.m. but Jones
said calls from residents reporting funnel clouds did not start
coming in until 10 a.m. when a tornado was spotted in Mayesville.
For nearly an hour, reports of tornados and funnel clouds, which do
not touch the ground, came in from Catchall, Shaw Air Force Base,
Bethel Church Road, Forest Lakes subdivision and Rafting Creek.
Atkinson said the first 911 call of a tornado sighting in
Lee County came in at 8:41 a.m. Tuesday from the Manville community.
For more than an hour, Atkinson said calls came pouring in from
various communities including Ashwood, Browntown and Cedar Creek.
The last call came in at 10:01 a.m. from Lucknow.
The
National Weather Service confirms two tornadoes and a funnel cloud
in Sumter, two tornadoes in Lee County and a funnel cloud in
Clarendon County.
Progress Energy reports 2,000 customers in
Sumter and Lee Counties were without power at the peak of the storm.
As of 2 p.m., power in Lee County had been restored. About 740
customers in Sumter County remained without power as workers tried
to repair downed power lines.
Black River Electric Co-Op
spokeswoman Sherri Woodward said 10,000 Sumter customers were
without power at around 10:30 a.m. By 2 p.m., power had been
restored to all but 1,000 customers in the area. A portion of Shaw
Air Force Base was still without power due to three large poles
being ripped from the ground.
Woodward said Black River
linemen believe three tornadoes struck Sumter -- one at Shaw,
another in the Rembert area and third in the area around Furman
Middle School on Bethel Church Road. Woodward said workers came to
this conclusion after seeing power lines and poles down in these
areas.
Black River was forced to recall a 10-man crew that
left Sumter at 6 a.m. en route to hurricane-ravaged Florida to
repair downed lines.
"When the storm came in and we saw we
were going to have real problems and we realized the extent of the
problem, we called them back to Sumter," Woodward said. "They were
in Pembroke, Ga. They got back a little before 2 and they went right
out. They didn't stop."
Still, emergency officials were
thankful the damage wasn't worse.
"We've been very
fortunate," said Atkinson at 3 p.m. Tuesday. "We have had only one
wreck so far on the Interstate (20) and there were no injuries. I
thought we would have a lot more wrecks, but it's not necessarily
over yet. We are in a tornado watch until 7 p.m. tonight (Tuesday),
and the National Weather Service is telling us that we may get a
repeat of this on Wednesday."
The remnants of Hurricane
Frances are expected to impact the weather in the tri-county area
until Thursday morning.
"There are some outer bands that
could affect us," Jones said. "People need to be prepared. A big
concern for us is people who live in mobile homes. Those people need
to go to a safe place -- a substantial building. They need to have a
plan in place and then carry it out when they're
threatened."
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