Tornado heavily damages Pfizer manufacturing plant in North Carolina
A tornado damaged a Pfizer pharmaceutical plant located 60 miles east of Raleigh, North Carolina, on Wednesday.
The manufacturing plant was damaged by a tornado that touched down near Rocky Mount. Pfizer said there were no serious injuries, The Associated Press reported.
Other recent tornadoes: Tornadoes confirmed near Chicago Wednesday, touching down near O'Hare airport
Pfizer tweeted Wednesday employees at the plant were able to follow protocol and evacuate, with everyone being safe and accounted for.
"We are assessing the situation to determine the impact on production," a second tweet from Pfizer stated. "Our thoughts are with our colleagues, our patients, and the community as we rebuild from this weather incident."
We can confirm that the Pfizer Rocky Mount facility was damaged by the tornado. Pfizer colleagues at the site followed our established safety protocol and were able to evacuate. They are safe and accounted for.
— Pfizer Inc. (@pfizer) July 19, 2023
According to the Pfizer website, the Rocky Mount plant is one of "the largest sterile injectable facilities in the world," with the factory making almost 25% of Pfizer’s sterile injectables used for U.S hospitals.
"At this facility, a wide range of products are produced, including anesthesia, analgesia, therapeutics, anti-infectives and neuromuscular blockers. These products are available in small volume presentations, such as ampules, vials and syringes, and large volume presentations, such as IV bags and semi-rigid bottles," it states.
Over 400 million units are manufactured at the North Carolina plant annually.
Parts of the roof were ripped off in the storm and debris was scattered. In a tweet on Thursday, the National Weather Service stated that the tornado was an EF3 and had peak winds of 150 mph.
🌪️The tornado survey results are in!
The Dortches-Battleboro NC Tornado was on the ground for 16.5 miles and produced peak winds of 150 mph.
This is the first EF-3 tornado ever observed in central North Carolina in the month of July! #NCwx pic.twitter.com/mr49ZTgIjE— NWS Raleigh (@NWSRaleigh) July 20, 2023
The tornado was on the ground for over 16 miles and resulted in 16 injuries, two of them being life threatening. No fatalities have been reported, according to the National Weather Service's tweet.
The tornado was the first EF3 that has been recorded in central North Carolina in July.
The Raleigh National Weather Service tweeted that the area could see severe weather once again on Thursday, with the biggest threat being damaging winds.
Most of our area will be under a marginal (level 1 of 5) risk for severe weather today, with the primary threat being damaging winds. In addition, hot and humid weather is expected, with heat indices ranging from 95 to 105 degrees. pic.twitter.com/5j9OA9NocK
— NWS Raleigh (@NWSRaleigh) July 20, 2023
More possible weather today: Large hail, damaging winds and even isolated tornado possible in northern Ohio Thursday
Contributing: The Associated Press
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Pfizer tornado: Rocky Mount pharmaceutical plant damaged
