A tornado touched down Wednesday morning in Union County, the National Weather Service said Wednesday afternoon.
The EF1 storm with winds up to 90 mph was on the ground about 3 minutes just before 8:40 a.m., the weather service said in a preliminary statement.
The tornado, North Carolina's first of the year, touched down near Porter Ridge High School and traveled along Friendly Baptist Church Road in Unionville, uprooting and snapping trees.
Outbuildings were damaged, and houses lost shingles, but no injuries were reported along the storm's 2-mile path. About 1,700 power outages were reported, county officials said.
The tornado was part of a line storms that tracked east through the day and moved off the coast by evening.
Related article: Wednesday's severe weather threat includes tornadoes and damaging wind gusts
If a Tornado Warning or Severe Thunderstorm Warning is issued for your location, you should seek shelter in a small, interior room on the lowest floor of a sturdy building. Basements, closets, hallways and windowless bathrooms often provide the best protection during severe weather.
Stay tuned to Weather on the 1s on Spectrum News 1 for updates.
