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Ogden neighbors clean up aftermath from Sunday morning tornado
NEW HANOVER COUNTY, NC (WECT) –
The National Weather Service confirmed Tuesday that a tornado touched down in an Ogden neighborhood during Hurricane Florence. The tornado reportedly hit Biscayne Drive just after midnight Sunday morning.
Neighbor Steve Boggs said he was out of town during the storm, but was watching the weather closely. He said he made sure to call and warn one of his neighbors when tornado warnings started popping up in the area Saturday night.
“I said ‘Tom you need to hunker down because there’s a line of tornados coming through.’ I didn’t know where in Bayshore. Certainly I didn’t expect it to be across the street from us,” explained Boggs.
The owner of the home declined an interview, but did allow cameras inside of his house to photograph the destruction from the tornado. He told WECT his family was out of town, but he hid under the sink when the tornado passed over his home.
Missing chunks of the house’s roof were scattered throughout the area. Part of the roof was sitting up against a pontoon boat in the front yard of the home and another large chunk of roof flew into Boggs’ yard.
“Part of the roof that came off was his children’s bedroom. Thank God they weren’t there. Just imagine if they had been there. It’s horrifying to think about,” said Boggs.
Neighbors in the community are shocked that a tornado came through their neighborhood.
“I couldn’t believe it because I thought the whole thing was over,” said neighbor Pam Hutsell.
Another neighbor, Bob Vasile, said he was home when the tornado came through.
“You know I’ve lived through a lot of bad things being a firefighter, but I was scared. There’s nowhere to go, all you do is just pucker up,” said Vasile.
Storm cleanup was well underway in the neighborhood Wednesday. People are chopping up trees, crews from Duke Energy are working to restore power, and those who live near the site where the tornado hit are thankful the incident wasn’t worse.
“I can’t believe that more is not destroyed and I’m so grateful and thankful that he is okay and his family was somewhere else,” said Hutsell regarding the family that lives in the home hit by the tornado.
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