YORK COUNTY, S.C. -- The National Weather Service has confirmed three tornadoes touched down Wednesday night across York, Cleveland and Davidson Counties.
On Thursday afternoon the National Weather Service confirmed a high-end EF-2 tornado touched down in York County. Top winds reached 135 miles per hour, and the tornado had a maximum width of 200 yards on a nearly continuous path of 2.5 miles. The NWS said an EF-2 tornado hit Davidson County, and that tornado had an eight-mile path spreading 200 yards wide with winds reaching 135 miles per hour.
Early Thursday evening the NWS added a third tornado confirmation in Shelby, a 50-yard wide EF-1 with 100 mile per hour maximum winds spreading one-third of a mile.
Three people in York County died and five others are hurt after the storm. The three victims that were killed in York County were Oran Steve Courtney, 60, Charles Kenneth Hafner, 60, and Barbara G. Hafner, 62, according to the York County Sheriff’s Office.
The storms damaged about seven homes in the Williamson Road area near U.S. Highway 324.
York County has established a help line for residents impacted by last night's storms at 803-326-2300.
Child, adult killed in suspected tornado in NC
LEXINGTON, N.C. (AP) -- An American flag marks the spot where neighbors and authorities found the body of a 3-year-old girl killed when a suspected tornado struck Davidson County.
Neighbors say the girl and her grandmother were home alone in the house outside Lexington when the storm hit Wednesday evening. The flag marking the spot is about 25 feet from the house. Only the foundation of the house remains.
The grandmother also was killed. Neighbors say they helped authorities remove the girl's body from a pile of debris using a folding card table.
County Emergency Services Director Jeff Smith says the storm left a debris field about 7 miles long and 100 yards wide. He says little time elapsed between when the storm was spotted on radar and the first 911 calls.
