An EF-1 tornado with winds up to 90 mph spun up near Unionville, North Carolina, as storms pounded the area Wednesday morning, damaging buildings and power poles and threatening nearby schools just as students arrived for class.
Forecasters with the National Weather Service believe the tornado formed near Porter Ridge High School and Porter Ridge Middle School at 8:34 a.m. Wednesday.
The tornado moved quickly — about 50 mph — some 2.2 miles northeast toward Lawyers Road, snapping trees, damaging buildings and downing several hundred yards of wooden power poles along the way.
"This was a fast moving storm," said Trisha Palmer with the National Weather Service, speaking at a Wednesday afternoon news conference. "It was really only on the ground for about three minutes."
Officials said no one was injured by the storm. Most of the damaged buildings lost vinyl siding, trim or shingles, according to Andrew Ansley, Union County's director of emergency management.
Ansley said a residence that was under construction suffered structural damage, and that it was likely the worst property damage caused by the storm.
The home was "heavily damaged," according to the weather service, presumably due to air rushing in via window and garage door openings, which lifted off part of the roof.
Union County school buses caught in storm
Union County Schools Assistant Superintendent Jarrod McCraw said some school buses were arriving to nearby schools at the time the tornado spun up.
"There were some buses that were still arriving at that time. The buses either delivered the students to the schools, or they would seek shelter at other schools that were close by during the tornado warning," McCraw said at the Wednesday news conference.
He defended the school district's decision to maintain a regular schedule Wednesday, even as other nearby districts closed or operated on a delay. He said the district made the decision in consultation with Ansley and local law enforcement.
"We looked at the reports from the National Weather Service and as a team, we made a decision to continue with school today. That's what we thought was best," he said.
According to the weather service, some trees on the Porter Ridge Campus appeared to have broken, and a fence around the school's tennis court was blown over.
A nearby light pole was also broken and two improperly anchored storage buildings collapsed nearby. McCraw said the school district was still assessing whether any school buildings had been damaged.
