Storm causes damage in Rowan County

CHINA GROVE, N.C. -- The National Weather Service says damage in Rowan County was caused by two microbursts, not a tornado.

Residents had suspected a tornado caused a wall of the Grove Supply Company to collapse on Monday night.

"Looks like a tornado blew it all over," said one of the men as he picked up a brick that was scattered on the ground.

But NWS meteorologists inspected the scene on Tuesday and said that two separate downbursts with winds up to 90 mph caused the damage.

Images of storm damage

The NWS said the first microburst happened along Goodnight Road in the northern part of Rowan County. Based on the damage survey, the NWS said wind speeds were estimated to be between 80 and 90 mph.

The second microburst from the same storm happened near China Grove, where the Grove Supply Company is located. The NWS said based on engineering studies, winds from this microburst were estimated to be between 90 and 100 mph.

A microburst is a downdraft of strong winds, typically isolated to a small, two-mile area.

Monday evening, the storms broke off tree limbs and scattered debris in the north and central parts of Rowan County, but the Grove Supply store was hardest hit.

The front wall was blown in, and the roof torn off the building. Tuesday, workers tried to continue to work without electricity, mainly just salvaging what they could.

The building behind the supply store -- which houses two businesses, a sheet metal and electrical company -- also lost one of its walls. The roof of that building was blown more than 100 yards away at a car salvages lot on top of as many as 30 cars.

"We didn’t have any serious injuries and no deaths," said Rowan County’s Emergency Services Director Frank Thomason.

(WCNC's Richard DeVayne contributed to this report.)