Hail in McDowell County, North Carolina

Severe thunderstorms moved in from Upstate South Carolina during the early morning hours becoming more widespread across portions of western North Carolina. Large and damaging hail occurred in many locations, and a number of places were affected by two or three different storms. The hail caused extensive damage and the dollar total will no doubt end up in the millions for both property and crop damage. The counties which were hit hardest were McDowell and Rutherford. At one car dealership in Marion the damage reached $500 thousand quickly. At least one insurance company set up a disaster center to process claims involving many cars and roofs which were hail damaged. Only one downburst was known to have occurred and resulted in trees downed across Highway 221 north of Rutherfordton. At Tryon, an historic house and contents including some antiques, burned to the ground. Lightning at Newton struck several residences, causing fire damage.