OCEAN ISLE BEACH, N.C. (WNCN) – At least three people are dead and 10 injured following a tornado that touched down in Brunswick County near Ocean Isle Beach around midnight, county authorities said Tuesday morning.
Power lines are down and many homes are damaged, especially in the Ocean Ridge Plantation area, after a tornado hit the south end of Brunswick County overnight, according to the Brunswick County Sheriff’s Office Facebook page.
Brunswick County Emergency Services, including multiple fire and law enforcement agencies, are on scene assessing damages and working to clear debris from roads, authorities said.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with all those affected by the tornado that hit the south end of Brunswick County early this morning,” the sheriff’s office wrote on Facebook. Officials called the damage to homes in the Ocean Ridge Plantation area “devastating.”
“It’s something like I have never seen before. A lot of destruction. It’s going to be a long recovery process,” Brunswick County Sheriff John Ingram said at a press conference early Tuesday.
Brunswick County Emergency Management Director Ed Conrow said at a Tuesday morning press conference that they can confirm at least three people were killed and 10 were injured. That count is not final because people are trapped inside their homes.
“We have a long road ahead of us,” Conrow said on the phone with CBS 17 Tuesday morning. He said debris is “everywhere” and they are working “to get more boots on the ground” to search for missing people in daylight.
Conrow told CBS 17 that because the tornado developed so quickly, people got the warning and right after it touched down. He said many people were in bed and didn’t have a chance to take cover, calling the tornado a “very scary situation.”
According to the Wilmington Fire Department, both the Regional Response Team and Search and Rescue Team have been requested and deployed by State Emergency Management to respond to the area to assist with locating missing persons.
Conrow said because of the challenges of the search that the county had to bring in a “specialized search and rescue team” so they could “look through the collapsed homes and the debris.” Conrow also said it’s especially important to have properly trained teams because so many of the homes there are now “unstable.”
Conrow said that temporary shelters have been set up and county officials “expect when daylight comes up, we’ll have people from the area move from their homes and move them.”
Gov. Roy Cooper tweeted Tuesday morning and said that the state has sent help to the area.
You can watch Brunswick County’s 4:30 a.m. press conference below. Note: the audio is difficult to hear due to “the sound of the generator and wind,” the sheriff’s office said.
Officials are scheduled to hold another press conference around noon.
Stay with CBS 17 for more information as it becomes available.