Severe storms, microburst hit North Carolina Foothills

Outside the Charlotte area Wednesday, many woke up to damage after heavy rain and storms came through Tuesday night. Chopper 9 Skyzoom got a look at the aftermath Wednesday.

The National Weather Service said a microburst likely occurred over Lincolnton with maximum winds of 70 mph. Emergency management said trees fell on multiple homes in the area.

ALSO READ: Straight-line winds cause damage in Chester, Lancaster counties

In Iredell County, a homeowner said part of a tree fell through the roof while she was still inside. The Statesville woman said she was on the phone with a loved one around 8 p.m. Tuesday when she heard a loud boom. That’s when she said the tree came crashing down due to a possible lightning strike.

The owner told Channel 9 that the home is now unlivable. She said she stayed in the home overnight in an attempt to prevent further damage.

Alexander County

Chris Gates shared a photo with Channel 9 of a tree on a car in Alexander County. Gates said he was trying to help the driver, who happened to be a firefighter in Newton.

That firefighter, Scott Walker, described the moment the tree hit his vehicle.

“Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a tree coming toward me, but I didn’t realize it was going to fall on my car,” he said. “A couple of seconds could have made a huge difference, and I feel like God was watching out for me and he was protecting me.”

Walker said his training helped him through the scenario. He said he was off duty and driving his own car when the tree came down along Highway 16, possibly from a lightning strike. He said he was concerned about power lines that also fell, so he didn’t immediately get out of his car.

“I knew there was power lines in the general area,” Walker said. “I didn’t know they were in the actual tree that fell on me. But I had the instinct to think before I got out.”

Walker said because of that, he called 911 for help and told other drivers who stopped to help not to approach the car.

ALSO READ: Gaston County Schools closed Friday due to continued outages caused by storms

He eventually was able to get out and was thankful he wasn’t hurt.

Catawba County

In Catawba County, an awning crashed down onto Lake Lookout Market, a convenience store on Oxford Road near Claremont. A viewer shared video as the storm moved south and brought down the awning.

Several people stopped by Wednesday to take pictures of the damage.

“Everything was rocking. Everything was rolling. I had a lot of my big trees cut because it’s gotten so bad,” said Jeff Fulp.

The owners of the store said while no one was hurt, they were not able to open due to the damage.

Elsewhere in Catawba County, Channel 9′s Dave Faherty spotted power crews repairing lines.

In one part of the county, a large tree came down in Jim Christenbury’s yard, where he said it was difficult to see anything outside during the storm.

“It was coming down in sheets. Just straight across that field, thunder and lightning,” he said.

Though there were no reports of injuries, around lunchtime Wednesday, firefighters in Catawba County responded to trees down into lines.

VIDEO: Severe storms cause damage across North Carolina