Pender County residents continue cleanup efforts following weekend storm

PENDER COUNTY, NC (WWAY) — Some residents in the Cape Fear are cleaning up damage after a strong storm made its way through the area Sunday night.

One area that was hit hard was Pender County, where an EF1 tornado, with wind gusts up to 95 mph, traveled more than 3 miles on the ground near Burgaw.

Just before 7:30 pm, a tornado touched down just south of Herrings Chapel Road and moved northeast.

The tornado knocked down many trees along its path.

Patrick Loid lives less than a mile from where the tornado crossed Herrings Chapel Road.

He was surprised to see all the damage so close to his home.

“They’re starting to become more frequent so, it’s definitely an eye-opener to take this stuff serious,” Loid said. “Storms are getting worse, weather is getting bad, I mean, alarms go off, get prepared.”

The tornado also hit the Washing Hunting Club, where around 50 dogs escaped from their kennels.

The club’s vice president said all the dogs have been found and are okay.

Meanwhile, in Hampstead, County Deputy Fire Marshal Townsend Link said that fire crews responded to a fishing boat struck by lightning on Washington Acres Road.

It happened just before 11 pm Sunday.

“They found a 40-foot center console offshore fishing boat. It was fully involved at the time,” Link said. “The owner stated that there was about 300 gallons of gasoline in it. So Pender EMS and Fire was first to arrive on scene, they had a knockdown of the fire and worked hard to make sure it gets extinguished.”

Link said the boat was a total loss.