11,000 without power, flights diverted as severe storms hit Charlotte area
Severe storms knocked out power to thousands in the Charlotte area and delayed flights into and out of Charlotte Douglas International Airport on Tuesday afternoon.
At least 7,500 Duke Energy customers were without power in Mecklenburg County at 6 p.m., along with more than 1,700 in Cabarrus County, 1,500 in York County, S.C., and 1,000 in Lancaster County, S.C., according to the Duke Energy Carolinas outage map.
By 11:30 p.m., the number of outages in the Charlotte area dwindled to about 500.
All inbound flights were being held at their originating airports until 6 p.m. due to thunderstorms, and already airborne planes were delayed nearly an hour from arriving at Charlotte’s airport, according to FlightAware.com, which tracks flights to and from airports nationwide.
Inbound flights were delayed an average 54 minutes at their originating airports, FlightAware reported.
Just before midnight Wednesday, arrival delays averaged about 1 hour, 39 minutes, and departure delays about 42 minutes, according to FlightAware.
Large hail, damaging winds and possibly tornadoes threatened the Charlotte area for a second straight afternoon and evening on Tuesday, National Weather Service meteorologists warned.
“Severe weather is possible again today, mainly this afternoon into early evening,” the NWS office in Greer, S.C., said on Twitter. “Damaging winds and isolated large hail are the main threats, but an isolated tornado cannot be ruled out. Confidence is high.”
The severe weather threat also encompassed Upstate South Carolina, the S.C. and N.C. mountains and the N.C. foothills, NWS meteorologists said.
The threat was greatest for Mecklenburg, Union, Cabarrus and Rowan counties, according to an NWS hazardous weather outlook bulletin at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday.
At 4 p.m., the NWS issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Monroe and Indian Trail in Union County, and Rock Hill, S.C. Winds of up to 70 mph and pea-sized hail were possible, according to the warning that expired at 4:45 p.m.
Severe Thunderstorm Warning including Rock Hill SC, Indian Trail NC, Monroe NC until 4:45 PM EDT pic.twitter.com/x9RKM6b6h9
— NWS GSP (@NWSGSP) May 4, 2021
A cold front from the west was expected to bring “strong to severe thunderstorms” to the region, including “multiple rounds of rain,” according to the NWS bulletin earlier Tuesday.
Officials in York County, S.C., were investigating farm damage near Clover to determine if the area was hit by a tornado or straight line winds on Monday, the Herald of Rock Hill reported.
On Monday, at least one tornado was confirmed near the town of Lowndesville in Abbeville County in western South Carolina, officials said.
Most of the bad weather should move from the region by early Wednesday, according to the NWS forecast for Charlotte. Wednesday has just a 30% chance of showers and thunderstorms and should be mostly sunny, with an expected high of 83 degrees, the forecast shows. Wind gusts could reach 21 mph.
Highs are expected to drop to 72 degrees on Thursday and Friday before moving back up to 75 Saturday and 83 Sunday.
Another day with a threat of severe thunderstorms across the area. The main threat will be damaging winds and large hail. But an isolated tornado cannot be ruled out in the southern Piedmont. Peak coverage is expected this afternoon. #gawx #scwx #ncwx #cltwx pic.twitter.com/z3piYcdWDt
— NWS GSP (@NWSGSP) May 4, 2021
