‘It was devastating’

As residents in northeast Mecklenburg and southern Cabarrus counties salvaged the scattered remains of homes tossed by a tornado Saturday, the National Weather Service said its meteorologists failed to detect the severity of the storm as it barreled toward the area.

The tornado, which hit about 3 a.m. at neighborhoods near Reedy Creek Park and in Harrisburg, was part of the huge storm system that spawned devastating tornadoes Friday and early Saturday across the Midwest and South, killing at least 38 people in Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio.

But in the Charlotte area, only three people were injured, and no fatalities were reported.

The National Weather Service expected severe weather to remain south and southwest of Charlotte because meteorologists said the atmosphere had not become unstable enough to support severe weather.

But then – without any tornado or severe thunderstorm warnings – many awoke in the dead of night to the sound of a tornado with winds up to 135 mph as it ripped a trail of destruction, damaging more than 180 homes.

Alicia Watson said four people, including visiting relatives, were in her home on Satterfield Court in the Reedy Creek neighborhood when she heard the approaching storm.

She ran downstairs to seek shelter, but as she did, the front windows shattered. As she raced back upstairs, she heard the back side of her house being ripped apart.

“It sounded like a train coming through the house,” she said, crying. “It blew out the back of our house.”

The tornado ripped roofs off houses, overturned vehicles, split large pine trees and knocked down power lines along a path that started near Reedy Creek Elementary, which was not damaged.

A team of National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed the area Saturday morning and determined an EF2 tornado, with winds of 130 to 135 mph, was responsible for the damage. Harry Gerapetritis of the Weather Service office in Greer, S.C., said the storm was on the ground for 3.8 miles and cut a path between 150 and 200 yards wide.

Gerapetritis said forecasters never saw it coming.

“It’s the type of storm that we struggle with the most,” he said. “But we didn’t get it right.”

Gerapetritis said the line of storms that spawned the tornado was much different from those responsible for killer twisters Friday in Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky. Those were caused by “supercell” thunderstorms, with cloud tops that soared 10 miles into the atmosphere.

The tornado that struck in the Reedy Creek area was triggered by storms with lower cloud tops but with plenty of rotation in lower levels of the atmosphere. Gerapetritis said those types of storms are difficult to predict and to spot in advance.

“The big storms to the west were supercells, and we do a pretty good job of predicting those,” he said. “What happened in the Charlotte area was, meteorologically speaking, sort of looking for a needle in a haystack.”

Forecasters said another complication with the Charlotte-area forecast Friday and early Saturday was the location of a cold air wedge – a pocket of cool and rather stable air that was locked in place over the western Carolinas. Forecasters expected a warm front to push northward, out of South Carolina, that would create an unstable air pattern, at risk for severe thunderstorms and tornadoes.

But throughout the day Friday, the warm front never quite pushed north of the state line. At 3 p.m. Friday, it was 72 degrees in Lancaster, S.C., but 15 degrees colder just 15 miles north in the Ballantyne area.

When the warm front never pushed into Charlotte, meteorologists decided not to include Mecklenburg, Cabarrus and Union counties in a tornado watch that was issued late Friday for the overnight hours.

The Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., typically advises residents in counties adjacent to watch areas that severe storms sometimes can form slightly outside the watch area.

At the time the tornado struck here, a tornado watch was in effect for a chunk of the western Carolinas but not for Mecklenburg and Cabarrus counties. And there were no severe thunderstorm or tornado warnings issued either.

Gerapetritis said in situations like this, meteorologists review what happened, look at the data and discuss what they could have done differently. “The next time, we try to get it right,” he said.

‘The sound was horrible’

The American Red Cross said a preliminary assessment showed three Mecklenburg homes were destroyed and another eight were severely damaged. In all, the Red Cross said, 132 homes in the county were damaged.

In Mecklenburg County, the damage was centered in two neighborhoods near Reedy Creek Park.

Reedy Creek Plantation and Brookstead, two communities across from Reedy Creek Elementary School, apparently took the brunt of the storm. Many people were forced from their homes in that area.

In the Brookstead neighborhood, four neighboring homes on Brookstead Meadow Court were the hardest hit. The twister picked one home up off its foundation and set it down several yards away in the backyard while bushes in the front of the home remained in place. Another home’s second story was reduced to bits and spread in a line that stretched down an embankment and into nearby Interstate 485.

Paramedics said the three injured people live in Brookstead.

“The sound was horrible,” said Brookstead resident Armando Ramirez. “The kids were screaming, we were all frightened.”

The storm apparently crossed over I-485 into Cabarrus County, but there were no reports of storm-related wrecks along the thoroughfare. Then, continuing its nearly 4-mile path of destruction, the tornado headed toward the Steeple Chase neighborhood off Robinson Church Road in Harrisburg. That’s were the damage was centered in Cabarrus County, said county spokeswoman Aimee Hawkins.

By Saturday evening, Cabarrus County had declared a state of emergency for the area near Harrisburg hit by the tornado.

Hawkins said the estimated cost to replace the 49 damaged homes there, including four that were destroyed, is nearly $1.9 million. State damage assessment teams will come to the county Monday to determine whether the properties will qualify for state or federal assistance.

Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx examined the damage in the Reedy Creek neighborhood Saturday morning, speaking with victims of the storm.

Foxx said he went with police on an aerial tour to survey damage. He plans to ask the federal government for disaster relief aid.

“It was devastating,” he said. “I’ve seen homes completely flattened and automobiles inside homes.”

‘Everybody is doing OK’

As the cleanup began Saturday, police and fire authorities urged the public to stay away from areas along The Plaza, Reedy Creek Road and along Robinson Church and Harrisburg roads.

Charlotte firefighters went door to door in the Reedy Creek Plantation and Brookstead communities, helping people to safety and checking for possible injury victims.

“We had one case of a residential natural gas line ruptured, but firefighters controlled the leak,” said Charlotte Fire Capt. Rob Brisley.

Brisley said Mecklenburg County building inspectors were checking the damaged homes to see how many were uninhabitable. Cabarrus County officials were doing the same along Robinson Church Road.

At one point early Saturday, more than 14,000 power outages were reported.

By 7:30 p.m., nearly 70 homes in Cabarrus County and more than 160 in Mecklenburg County were still without power.

The American Red Cross set up shelters at Northridge Middle School in Mecklenburg County and at Hickory Ridge High School in Cabarrus County. Kate Meier of the American Red Cross said about two dozen people spent much of the night at a shelter at Reedy Creek Elementary, which later closed because of a power outage.

As of 8 a.m. Saturday, the Northridge Middle shelter had tended to 20 local residents, said shelter manager Bob Hayes.

“We plan to be open as long as necessary,” Hayes said. “We have seen no injuries here. Everybody is doing OK right now considering the situation.”

By Brittany Penland, Steve Lyttle and Meghan Cooke