High Wind — Henderson, North Carolina

2007-04-16 to 2007-04-17 · Henderson, North Carolina

Wider weather episode

After abating somewhat in the early morning hours, there was a resurgence in damaging winds across the Blue Ridge Mountains and surrounding areas during the daylight hours. Thousands of trees and numerous power lines fell across the area, with many trees falling on roads and damaging homes and vehicles. A 59-year-old man was killed when the vehicle he was driving on Turnpike Rd near Mills River was crushed by a fallen tree. In Saluda, a 75-year-old man was critically injured when a tree fell on his car. He died several days later. A utility worker was also seriously injured in in the Hickory Grove area of Polk County, when a falling tree pinned him to his vehicle. At the height of the event, about 30,000 customers were without power in Henderson County alone, with power outages numbering in the hundreds of thousands across the area as a whole. Some customers remained without power until the 19th.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 29362. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.