At the intersection at Dillard and Jones Franklin Road, high winds disrupted the traffic lights, while nearby neighborhoods were left in the dark. Police were swamped by calls from Cary residents who were left shaken by the storm. One woman blames the storm for a very close call.
Just a few seconds and a few inches made all of the difference for T.C. Jin. She was driving her car down S.E. Maynard Road when the storm hit fast and furious.
"Suddenly, the sky looked clear, and I could see the tree coming down," Jin explained. "I was lucky enough to hit my brake right away. The tree fell right before us."
The huge tree that fell right in front of Jin's car shut down S.E. Maynard for more than two hours. Rush hour traffic traffic was diverted while fire crews worked to clear the road. Another portion of the same road was closed when phone lines fell across the road.
It only took a few minutes for the storm to blow across Cary, but it was just enough time to rattle more than a few nerves.
"My daughter told me there was a storm coming," Jin said. "But I didn't expect such a huge one."
The storm was huge enough to knock out power to about 3,000 people in Wake County. CP&L says most of those people are back on in. In Chatham County, many of the 8,000 people who lost power had to wait a while before their lights came back on. Power outages were also reported in Hoke, Sampson and Duplin Counties. In Moore County, lightning sparked a few brush fires.
The weather center at Fort Bragg measured a wind gust of 109 miles per hour.
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