Severe storms rattled much of central North Carolina overnight, leaving downed trees, power outages and damaged homes in their wake.
Storms marched across the state from northwest to southeast, bringing hail and downpours, and knocking out power. Frequent lightning strikes lit the sky in the Sandhills.
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There were 270 damaging wind reports and 107 hail reports from up and down the entire East Coast over the past 24 hours.
Reports of flooded roads, especially in Cumberland County, could impact the morning commute for some. There were 12 flood reports in Cumberland County, and rainfall totals from yesterday's storms reached over 4 inches In Fayetteville. A sinkhole actually opened on U.S. 401, and a police officer and tractor-trailer both fell into the sinkhole, causing injury to the officer.
At least one person died after crashing into a Duke Energy truck overnight in Raleigh.
In Fayetteville, an 18-wheeler crashed into a sinkhole, and a police officer was injured after falling into the same hole.
At least three residents in Cary were shocked when a tree landed on their roof. The impact caused part of the ceiling to collapse on top of someone while watching television.
The homeowner said no one was hurt, but there was damage in the master bedroom as well.
Trees were also reported down in Harnett County.
In the town of Cameron, one resident said they had a tree fall on their home as well. The homeowner declined to say where in Cameron due to safety reasons.
Another home in Harnett County on Bethel Baptist Road also had a tree fall down on the property, nearly hitting the SUV in the driveway.
According to the National Weather Service, over 20 trees and power lines were reported down in Johnston County, particularly near the Smithfield and Selma areas of the county.
Over 10,000 Duke Energy customers in central NC were without power a little after midnight on Tuesday; however, as of 5 a.m., less than 1,000 people were without power in the Triangle area. Some outages persisted in rural areas outside the Triangle.



