MORVEN — Two tornados touched down in Morven on Monday, April 13 bringing 135 mph winds that uprooted trees and destroyed homes. The tornadoes were part of a system of severe weather that ravaged the Southeast beginning on Sunday, April 12 and left over a million homes without power in their wake.
“We sustained a lot of damage,” said Town of Morven Councilwoman Marjorie Cole. Not even the mayor’s home was spared. “Our mayor, Timmy Watkins, his house was really damaged by trees.”
“Once the power went off on Monday, we really had a time,” said Cole. “A lot of our senior citizens, who live alone, didn’t have anywhere to go and they stayed in the dark.” Power outages across the county began around 6 a.m. Monday morning. Linemen from Pee Dee Electric and Duke Power worked tirelessly in the wind and rain to restore services. Power was finally completely restored to Anson County on Wednesday afternoon.
In response to the severe weather, Governor Cooper declared a State of Emergency for North Carolina on Sunday, April 12 as the storms began their approach to our State. Anson County would declare their own State of Emergency the next day, Monday, April 13.
“Declaring a state of emergency for any disaster helps the county get resources quicker,” explained Anson County Emergency Services Director Rodney Diggs. “When the county declares it, it only applies to unincorporated areas of the county.”
In addition to expediting resources, the state of emergency empowers the county to instate curfews as well as restrictions on the sale and transportation of alcohol and firearms. “Normally, the state of emergencies stay in place until everything stabilizes,” said Diggs. “Once the situation stabilizes or improves, then that’s when we’ll do away with it.” The state of emergency was lifted on Thursday, April 16.
In total, 15 homes in Anson County received majored damage or were destroyed during the storm according the Damage Assessment performed by Diggs and his team. Many more homes suffered minor damage. This information will be sent to NCEM to determine if our county has enough damage for a State Declaration.
“Athis time there is not enough damage for a Presidential Declaration for FEMA to come in and Assist,” said Diggs. “The NC Baptist Men’s Association is in Morven helping those citizens with clean up.” A crew from Cheraw has also come to Morven to assist with clearing the debris caused by the severe weather.
“We just thank God for kind people who reach out to us,” said Cole. “We also think our citizens for being kind and loving and doing what they could do.”
