COLUMBUS COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — The National Weather Service has confirmed two tornados touched down in Columbus and Bladen Counties Tuesday night. On Wednesday, WWAY spoke to one man whose property was damaged during the storm.
“We were right here, right in the middle of it,” Johnny Meares said.
Johnny Meares lives on Red Store Rd. in Whiteville. He was outside watching the tornado travel down his road when it changed direction and headed toward his outdoor building.
“We heard something. The wind changed and by the time we could move for the house it and already ripped the walls out of the building here. We heard it when it hit the neighbor’s house and we had just enough time to get for the door and then the walls came out of the building,” Meares said.
Meares said he is thankful no one was hurt.
“It happened so fast; we didn’t even know it was coming until we heard crunching over there at the neighbor’s house and it had ripped her air conditioner off and threw it across the yard. When we heard that we knew we were about to get hit with something,” Meares said.
He said this is the second time a tornado hit his property. He said the last time was three years ago.
“It destroyed the shop and all of our tools the first time and it took a lot to recover from that,” Meares said.
He said his building hit on Tuesday night was the replacement for his first shop, a tornado destroyed. He said there will likely be some outdoor cleaning to do in the next few days, but it’s expected after an event such as this one.
The National Weather Service said one tornado is estimated to have had a peak wind of 75 mph before lifting and touching ground again at 60 mph. High winds damaged four homes in Whiteville.