Tree falls on Cary home; rest of tree then falls on neighbor's home hours later
Saturated ground and additional thunderstorms moving through central North Carolina on Friday afternoon caused a tree to fall on two Cary homes.
The tree clipped the front of a home on Champion Drive, and then, the other part of the tree fell into a neighbor's home hours later.
Luckily, no one was inside either home when the tree fell.
Stunned neighbors said they couldn't believe what they saw.
"It was really out of the blue experience," described Stephanie Peters. "I felt the ground shake and heard a little boom. It wasn't too loud, so I looked out the window and I just saw a cloud of white smoke."
More than 500 strikes of lightning were reported in central North Carolina, according to WRAL meteorologist Kat Campbell.
Heavy rain and lightning were hitting Johnston County at around 6 p.m. Friday. More than 10,000 customers were without power in Johnston County from the storms. Hail also pummeled Johnston County at around 6 p.m. in Smithfield.
Several WRAL viewers sent in photos of shelf clouds over Durham. These kinds of clouds develop when the air rises quickly.
Most of the state is under Level 1 threat for severe storms, with damaging wind gusts being the main threat.
A tree fell on a home on Champion Drive in Cary on Friday afternoon, completely damaging one side. No one was inside the home, officials said.
Officials said that saturated grounds caused the tree to fall.
At around 7 p.m., storms had already moved south of the Triangle.
Planes were grounded at the Raleigh-Durham International Airport on Friday afternoon around 5:30 p.m. from the strong storms.
