Cleanup began after severe storms killed one man near Raleigh, damaged homes and left about 12,000 Wake County customers without power Tuesday night. Wake County deputies and emergency crews responded before 10 p.m. to Bartons Enclave Lane after a large tree fell onto a home. First responders found a man trapped inside and pronounced him dead; two other people in the home were not injured.
About 12,000 customers in Wake County lacked power late Tuesday as wind and falling trees damaged lines and property. Trees damaged homes near RDU and along Falls of Neuse Road, while a falling tree struck a Raleigh fire truck without injuring firefighters.
Lightning forced an evacuation of Red Hat Amphitheater during a Bob Dylan concert, and flooded streets and yards were reported in several areas. At RDU, storms combined with an American Airlines systems problem to delay or cancel dozens of flights and hold some arriving passengers on aircraft.
Saturated ground can reduce tree stability, so wind damage may continue after repeated rainfall even when peak gusts are brief. Airport ramp workers must stop or restrict outdoor operations during lightning, causing gate delays even after an aircraft lands safely.
Early outage totals fluctuate as utilities isolate damaged circuits, restore larger groups and discover smaller localized failures. As of the edition cutoff, A complete damage total, the victim's identity and final cause assessments for every fallen tree were not available. The available reports distinguish measurements and attributed claims from conclusions that had not yet been established. Where officials supplied numbers, those figures remain subject to revision as agencies reconcile records and publish later updates. Subsequent records may therefore change the totals without changing the initial chronology. The next factual records to examine are utility restoration and road-clearing updates and engineering inspections, insurance assessments and any revised storm reports.