Emergency Services Director remember the eerie quiet after deadly tornado

BRUNSWICK COUNTY (WWAY) — One year after a deadly tornado devastated parts of Brunswick County, Emergency Services Director Ed Conrow believes the region still has a little ways to go go to fully recover.

Conrow says he remembers listening to dispatch just before bed. He realized there was a problem when his crews began getting calls. Just 10 minutes later, Conrow was driving around debris into the dark Ocean Ridge Plantation neighborhood.

Conrow’s crews began searching and recovering lost residents, setting up a command post at a neighborhood clubhouse.

“Yeah it was dark,” Conrow remembered, “the power was out. It was a really eerie dark. In fact, to get to where we set up our command post, I had to come back out of Ocean Ridge, and come back down Seaside road. And I remember coming through this area, there was a Sheriff’s deputy in front of me, and we were actually driving through yards trying to get around debris, trees down to get to the gas station on Highway 17.”

Since then, Conrow believes his team and this surrounding community have learned the importance of being ready for anything.