NC tornado updates: What to know about the destructive weather in Nash and Edgecombe

A tornado touched down in the Rocky Mount area on Wednesday afternoon, heavily damaging a Pfizer product facility and injuring more than a dozen people in Nash County.

Two people who were hospitalized with life-threatening injuries after the staggering event had improved Thursday, said Edgecombe County manager Eric Evans. But they remained hospitalized with serious injuries, he said.

This was the first tornado of this magnitude to ever be recorded in North Carolina in the month of July, said Chrissy Anderson, a meteorologist with Raleigh’s National Weather Service.

“We’re happy to report there were no fatalities. We did receive reports of 16 total injuries, and two were life-threatening,” she said.

Rocky Mount Mayor Sandy Roberson declared a state of emergency because of the tornado’s “significant damage and other impacts,” City Manager Keith Rogers Jr. shared in a news conference Thursday afternoon.

Here’s what we know:

Tornado damage in Nash County

The tornado was reported in Rocky Mount, which is about 50 miles northeast of Raleigh, around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday.

It registered as an EF3, according to the Raleigh National Weather Service, meaning the tornado reached speeds of 150 mph.

The tornado’s path was over 16 miles long, and the width of the damage was about 600 yards, meteorologist Anderson said.

The City of Rocky Mount provided the following information in its tornado response report, which was released late Wednesday:

• Two areas of the city experienced significant damage: the Pfizer plant on North Wesleyan Boulevard and the Great Glen area in Belmont Lake Preserve.

• Two minor injuries occurred within city limits.

• Twelve homes experienced “substantial damage.”

• Approximately 100 vehicles and 75 hauling trucks were damaged.

• Ten transmission poles and 27 distribution poles were damaged, and more than 3,000 customers were without power by 1:45 p.m. About 230 customers were still without power by 9:15 p.m.

Damage in Edgecombe County

In addition to the two people badly hurt, property was damaged in adjacent Edgecombe County, said Evans, the county manager. As of Thursday, he knew of:

• Twenty-six homes harmed in some way by the tornado, with four severely damaged and two made “unlivable.” Two churches were also damaged.

• Fifteen acres of farmland, which grew tobacco, peanuts and corn. The county estimates there is $50,000 worth of damaged crops, Evans said.

• Two “chicken houses” and a produce processing facility were also damaged.

Minor injuries, warnings in Nash County

Nash County EMS treated 13 residents with minor injuries like “scratches and scrapes,” said Jonathan Edwards, Nash County Public Communications Director.

Two of those people were taken to UNC Health Nash for further evaluation, though their injuries were also minor, he said.

Photos: Recovery efforts underway after tornado hits Rocky Mount, NC communities

“We put out a tornado warning, but before that, we put out a severe storm warning which had a tornado tag on it, which means there’s a severe thunderstorm warning with possible tornadic conditions,” Anderson said.

“I’m so glad we could save thousands of people’s lives with that warning. The tornado was at its maximum strength right near the Pfizer facility, which has so many employees.”

Interstate 95 was closed from 1 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. in both directions between exits 138 and 141 due to a downed tree, the Department of Transportation said.

Insurance help, shelters from tornado damage

NC Insurance Commissioner and State Fire Marshal Mike Causey was to tour damaged areas in Nash County on Thursday afternoon and offered assistance to those impacted by the storm, a press release from the Department of Insurance says.

Special agents from the Department of Insurance will help policyholders and storm victims avoid insurance scams, because it’s common for fraud to take place after natural disasters.

There are two shelters in Rocky Mount for those displaced by the tornado:

• Rocky Mount Senior Center (427 S. Church St.)

• Dortches Baptist Church (4776 Dortches Blvd.)

American Red Cross staff are available at the Rocky Mount Senior Center and have been assisting those in need since Wednesday.

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Pfizer plant damaged, medication shortage expected

The tornado ripped the roof off of Pfizer’s building in Rocky Mount. All Pfizer employees were able to follow safety protocol and evacuate the building, the company said, and they are safe and accounted for, CBS17 reported.

The damage is expected to create medication shortages. The wind caused large quantities of medicine to get “tossed about,” NBC News reported.

“I’ve got reports of 50,000 pallets of medicine that are strewn across the facility and damaged through the rain and the wind,” Nash County Sheriff Keith Stone said.

Erin Fox, senior pharmacy director at University of Utah Health, said the damage “will likely lead to long-term shortages while Pfizer works to either move production to other sites or rebuilds.”

The plant produces anesthesia and other drugs, along with about 25% of all Pfizer sterile injectable medications used in U.S. hospitals, Pfizer says on its website.

Rocky Mount, NC updates after hurricane

City Manager Rogers shared the following information in Thursday’s press conference:

• The fire department has ended its active response and is now assisting Nash County and surrounding jurisdictions. The police department has returned to normal operations.

• Traffic control is being provided at the intersection of North Wesleyan Boulevard near the Pfizer plant, as the traffic signal continues to be inoperable.

• Only 43 of the city’s energy resources customers remain without power.

• Cummings Road remains the only road within the city that remains closed, but it’s expected to reopen once the Department of Transportation finishes removing fallen trees.