Thunderstorms that ripped through Anson County over the weekend sent a volunteer fireman to the hospital and left many residents with minor property damage and power outages.

According to Anson County Emergency Services Director Rodney Diggs, several reports of fallen trees and minor property damage was reported to him over the weekend, with one person suffering injuries.

“A bunch of trees were down in Wadesboro,” said Diggs. “A tree fell on a building collapsing it, leaving one man injured.”

The injured man was retired Wadesboro fire chief Eddie Pope, who received critical injuries when a tree came crashing down on his shop while he was inside. Pope, an active volunteer fireman in the community, was taken to Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte where he is receiving treatment for his injuries.

According to Duke Energy, about 3,454 customers were without power in Anson County during the start of the storms from Friday at noon to Sunday. The peak outage for the power company was reached on Friday, when 1,500 residents were without power in the county.

“With the wind and rain, a lot of it was tree limbs and equipment failure that had to do with the storm,” said Danielle Peoples, a spokesperson for Duke Energy. The company’s outage tracker indicates that all of the outages in the area have been fixed.

The outages caused some issues at Wadesboro Town Hall, where staff were unable to accept water and sewer bill payments. The town posted on Facebook that, as a result, a late fee would not be added until Tuesday.

Forecasters for the National Weather Service in Raleigh said that Anson County received about a half-inch to two and a half inches of rain, with the most rain falling in the southernmost part of the county. An official measurement in Wadesboro showed that 1.18 inches had fallen there.

The county may have a chance to dry out as forecast for the next several days indicates little chance for rain. On Wednesday, there is a slight chance for thunderstorms with mostly sunny weather and a high of 91 degrees. On Thursday, the high will be 90 degrees with mostly sunny weather. Friday is expected to be sunny with a high of 94, and Saturday and Sunday will both be sunny and hot with a high near 97.

Contributed photo Retired Wadesboro fire chief Eddie Pope was critically injured Friday when a tree came crashing down on his shop while he was inside.
https://ansonrecord.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/web1_ansontree.jpgContributed photo Retired Wadesboro fire chief Eddie Pope was critically injured Friday when a tree came crashing down on his shop while he was inside.

By Jack Frederick

For the Record