Saturday, July 22, 2023 2:46PM DORTCHES, N.C. (WTVD) — Cleanup efforts continue in Nash and Edgecombe counties this morning after an EF-3 tornado touched down this week. The powerful twister destroyed homes, cars and businesses. In Dortches, Baptist on Mission Disaster Relief continued cleanup efforts. Tom Beam, who is with the organization, said people were eager to help those in need. “We have volunteers all across North Carolina but in these specific areas we just…

Saturday, July 22, 2023 3:37AM EDGECOMBE COUNTY, N.C. (WTVD) — Dave Powell didn’t even have the chance to get scared during Wednesday’s tornado. “It didn’t take but three minutes,” he said. The destruction is still hard to fathom at his yellow home of more than 40 years on Morning Star Church Road in Edgecombe County. The tornado tore most of his roof off and sent it flying. It also blew out car windows and ripped…

Saturday, July 22, 2023 3:34AM RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — “It kind of all happened at one time,” said Natasha Withers as she recalled the moments 12 years ago when a tornado destroyed her home and community. She was out to eat when the storm struck her McKinely Mill subdivision in North Raleigh. She came home to destruction. “I was like, ‘Am I really seeing what I think I’m seeing?’” she said. “So we had left…

Rebuilding from the tornado damage is expected to take months, even longer for some homeowners in Nash and Edgecombe Counties depending on the type of insurance coverage, if they have any at all. For one couple, Mike Poythress and Deborah Moore their home was destroyed by the tornado and they say starting over doesn’t seem possible. Poythress says, “I’m 67 years old, she’s 65, and we’re both living on social security. Nobody ever expects to…

DORTCHES, N.C. — A Navy veteran, his wife and their dog, Sabot, are battered and bruised, but alive. Michael Poythress and Debbie Moore took refuge Wednesday in the bathtub of their Puckett Mobile Home Park in Dortches. The EF3 tornado sent the three of them flying. On Friday, the couple was released from the hospital. Poythress and Moore’s roof came off Wednesday, the tornado blew them away, and they were buried under remnants of the…

Friday, July 21, 2023 8:23PM ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. (WTVD) — More than 60 children ducked for cover as the EF-3 tornado in Nash County nearly destroyed their daycare. St. Stephen’s Loving Daycare Center in Rocky Mount sustained damage to a few windows, lost a bevy of trees and will have to completely replace its playground. But amazingly, the tornado skirted around the daycare building filled with 67 children from infants to 12-year-olds. Owner Carolyn Slade…