Saturday evening tornado injures base residents, damages homes at Camp Lejeune

THIS INFORMATION FROM A NEWS RELEASE SENT TO THE WWAY NEWSCHANNEL 3 NEWSROOM

CAMP LEJEUNE, NC (USMC) — An unknown number of base residents sustained injuries and nearly 30 homes were damaged following a series of tornadoes that touched down in the vicinity of the Tarawa Terrace II housing area Saturday evening.

One seriously-injured child is known to have been evacuated to Pitt Memorial Hospital.

Of the damaged homes, five have been characterized as uninhabitable.

A temporary shelter has been opened at TT2 Elementary School to provide immediate care for displaced persons if necessary. The base Emergency Operations Center has been activated to provide a coordinated response throughout the night and a local incident command center has been set up at the TT2 fitness center.

More updates will be provided when they become available.