National Weather Service confirms tornado with winds at 115 mph hit Emerald Isle during Hurricane Dorian

By Sloane Heffernan, WRAL anchor/reporter

Emerald Isle, N.C. — The National Weather Service on Monday confirmed what residents of Boardwalk RV Park already knew: A tornado touched down in Emerald Isle Thursday, ahead of Hurricane Dorian. The weather service gathered data that showed winds whipped at a maximum of 115 mph along a path 200 yards wide and 13 miles long, beginning just after 9 a.m. on Thursday.

The confirmation came just about two hours before a planned visit from Pres. Donald Trump, who was touring storm damage in the state before an evening rally in Fayetteville.

John Barker was among those who found his vacation trailer in pieces when he returned to Emerald Isle after Hurricane Dorian. The twister picked up Barker’s trailer and tossed it across the street. He spent Saturday morning searching for his wife’s figurines.

“We almost stayed, thank God we didn’t,” Barker said.

Ernestine and Van Etheridge drove from Raleigh to check on their RV after reports of a possible tornado on WRAL News. Their RV wasn’t damaged like the others all around.

“Well, I’m very happy considering our place is spared,” Ernestine Etheridge said. Inside, the recently renovated RV was just as they left it.

“It almost seems impossible that things like that can happen,” Etheridge said. “One is still standing and one right behind it is flipped over and destroyed.”

Bill Knause was inside his home sipping coffee when, he said, “It shook a little bit, then it shook real hard and the right wall came tumbling down.”

Sonny Robinson was not inside his home when the winds blew. He returned to find it relocated down the street.

“It evidently went airborne. That’s the top of my home sitting in Bill’s living room,” he said. “It’s hard to comprehend all of this destruction.”

Jason Sawyer was home in Raeford when he realized the power was out at his vacation home. The couple was looking at Facebook reports of damage to Emerald Isle when Sawyer remembered his Ring doorbell camera. He accessed the video only to watch his home lifted off its foundation.

“We knew it was bad. We didn’t realize how bad, but, you know, catching that sound of the tornado hitting us was pretty humbling. It really shakes you to the core,” he said.

Amazingly, no one was badly hurt in that tornado.

On Saturday, the National Weather Service confirmed another tornado from Dorian — in Carolina Shores — was also an EF 2.