EF1 tornado in Pender County, North Carolina

A tornado touched down on the east side of Beattys Bridge Road about

0.3 mile southeast of the intersection with Slocum Trail, breaking

numerous small limbs out of a few trees in the front yard of a

residence. Additionally, the roof of a camper, which was parked in

the yard, was blown off. The tornado lifted and touched down again as

it crossed over a cemetery at the intersection of Slocum Trail and

Beattys Bridge Road. It passed directly over a mobile home which was

occupied at the time. The tie down straps broke, and the mobile home

briefly lifted a few inches off the ground as the tornado passed over.

A shed on the property was destroyed and debris recovered nearly one-

quarter mile away. In the woods immediately west of the mobile home,

a few dozen hardwood trees up to 16 in diameter were snapped.

Hurricane Florence began its long Atlantic trek from the Cape Verde Islands in early September. It made landfall near Wrightsville Beach during the morning of September 14th. The barometric pressure at landfall was 959 millibars, or 28.32 inches.The strongest winds were recorded at 106 mph at Cape Lookout, as well as 105 mph measured at the Wilmington International Airport. In addition to the strong storm surge, there was historic rainfall totals of 20 to 25 inches, with isolated totals of 35 inches in parts of Bladen and Robeson counties. Flash Flooding was severe and widespread, with many communities experiencing flooding for the first time. River flooding was epic, with dozens of main highways impassible. Significant flooding occurred for weeks after the storm had departed. The hurricane spawned 19 tornadoes, one causing significant damage to 8 structures in the Sydney community in Columbus county. The community at Lake Waccamaw experienced more damage than Hurricane Floyd in 1999, the previous benchmark for the area. In Pender County, over 6000 structures had damage, with 2800 structures suffered major damage or were destroyed altogether. Damage estimates from wind and water are in the tens of billions of dollars, making it one of the costliest hurricanes ever.