LUCAMA, N.C. (AP) — Tropical Storm Debby spawned damaging tornadoes that killed one person, flooded a town and temporarily shut down part of Interstate 95 early Thursday as it blew into North Carolina after making a second landfall overnight.
The storm was expected to churn up the East Coast, where residents as far north as Vermont could get several inches of flooding rain this weekend.
At least three tornadoes were reported overnight in North Carolina, including one around 3 a.m. that damaged at least four houses, a church and a school in Wilson County east of Raleigh, county officials said.
One person died in a home damaged by the tornado in Lucama, a small town about 40 miles (64 kilometers) east of Raleigh, Wilson County spokesman Stephen Mann said in an email. No further details on the person were immediately provided.
Theresa Richardson hunkered down with her husband and granddaughter in the closet of their Lucama home as the tornado tore through about a mile away.
Debris struck the house. And they could hear the roof of nearby Springfield Middle School being ripped off. The home of one of her granddaughter’s friends was destroyed from the tornado.
Richardson said this wasn’t the first time the area was struck by a tornado — her neighbors call the road they live on “Tornado Alley.”
Frances Smith, 74, said she and her husband Seth took shelter in their bathroom while the storm hit Lucama and shook the walls of their brick house.
“Sound was muffled in that bathroom. But you could tell it changed from heavy rain to something else,” Smith said. “And we looked at each other like, well, that’s not good. And it wasn’t.”
The superintendent of Wilson County Schools confirmed damage at Springfield Middle School, where sections of the walls and roof of the 6th and 7th grade halls are gone or compromised.
“It was heartbreaking to see the school right after the event,” Superintendent Lane Mills said in a statement.
Meanwhile, about 100 miles (161 kilometers) south of Lucama, deputies in Bladenboro had posted photos of a patrol car damaged by a tree as well as roads that had been washed out. Standing water a few feet deep covered parts of the tiny North Carolina town.
Many of the townspeople helped fill sandbags on Wednesday before up to 3 feet (91 centimeters) of floodwaters backed into the downtown overnight. Working in the dark, the town administrator, commissioners and residents helped businesses save as much merchandise as possible, Police Chief Kevin Rouse said.
When the sun came up, water could still be seen bubbling out of manhole covers in the town of about 1,600. Debby may not have been the worst storm to come through the region, but Rouse said he watches every storm wearily.
“Even though it wasn’t a severe, major hurricane you still had a lot of water. You start getting 6, 12, 20 inches of rainfall, that’s going to cripple you,” Rouse said.
The National Hurricane Center said Debby made a second landfall early Thursday near Bulls Bay, South Carolina — about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northeast of Charleston. Debby first made landfall as a Category 1 hurricane early Monday on the Gulf Coast of Florida. It was still a tropical storm Thursday morning, with maximum sustained winds at 40 mph (64 kph).
Debby wasn’t done flooding parts of eastern South Carolina and southeast North Carolina, and an additional 3 to 9 inches (8 to 23 centimeters) of rain is possible as the storm moves north, raising concerns of flash floods in mountainous areas of Virginia and West Virginia.
Debby also could bring more tornadoes Thursday in parts of North Carolina and Virginia, forecasters said.
Meanwhile, floodwaters haven't even fully drained out of some homes in South Carolina.
Robert Chesnut stood in nearly a foot (30 centimeters) of water inside his Isle of Palms home Thursday morning with a rented an industrial pump that looked like a fire hose. After more than three hours, only about an inch (2.5 centimeters) of water had been pulled out of his house on the barrier island near Charleston.
And once the water is gone, there is still a lot of work to do.
“This is contaminated water,” Chesnut said. “These houses are on septic tanks. I hate to say it, but that’s fecal matter. You have to disinfect everything.”
A state of emergency was in effect for both North Carolina and Virginia. Maryland issued a state of preparedness declaration that coordinates preparations without declaring an emergency.
At least seven people have died due to the storm.
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This story has been updated to remove an incorrect reference to total rainfall amounts for the Carolinas.
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Associated Press contributors include Jeffrey Collins in Columbia, South Carolina; Jeff Martin in Atlanta, and freelance photographer Mic Smith in Isle of Palms, South Carolina.
