Deadly storm system makes its way to Beaufort County | Eastern North Carolina Now

    The same storm system responsible for causing more than 150 reported tornadoes and at least 280 deaths across Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia will pass through Beaufort County before it pushes off the East Coast and into the Atlantic later this evening.

    Beaufort County residents should be prepared for possible damaging winds, large hail and isolated tornadoes, which could last from around noon today until about 9 p.m. The storms will likely become more severe as the afternoon progresses, peaking around 4:30 p.m.

    The Weather Channel's severe-weather expert Greg Forbes estimates the likelihood of tornadic activity today in eastern North Carolina, on a scale from 0 (no probability) to 8 (high probability), to be around a 4 (low chance of a tornado).

    This estimate may promote overly optimistic thinking; but it shouldn't, however, as the level of 4 is the highest level Forbes attributed to any location in the path of the storm system. Other areas, such as New York, only received a rating of 2 to 3 (very low chance of a tornado), and, currently, New York is under a Tornado Warning, which means there has already been at least one tornado spotted there.

    As of noon today, the National Weather Service has issued a Tornado Watch until 4 p.m today, and a wind advisory until midnight tonight.

    Beaufort County residents should prepare for the worst and hope for the best. To prepare for a possible tornado, pick the lowest place in your house to take cover, preferably a basement. If you don't have a basement, find an interior hall or closet that is away from any glass. Have a mattress available to cover yourself to protect against flying debris. Turn off your gas meter with a wrench, kept nearby, in the case of a tornado. If you live in a mobile home, try to find another place to wait out the storm when there is a tornado watch. and run tornado drills before severe weather. This will lessen the chance of confusion if a tornado hits. If you are in a car, pull to the side of the road and get out of the car (get in a ditch if possible). You cannot outrun a tornado.

    A result of a cold front and strong low-level jet stream, the storm system that has ravaged the South over the past three days is the worst to hit the area since 1974, when 315 were killed. The death toll is expected to rise and could, at some point, supersede the 1974 storms in the level of total destruction.

    To see a radar map of the storm, click here, and then click "Enlarge" at the top of the satellite image.

    To see what a close encounter with an EF4 tornado might look like, view the below video footage that was taken by a resident of Tuscaloosa, Ala, as the storm passed through, yesterday.



    For a shocking video of the 1.5-mile wide tornado that swept across Birmingham, Ala., yesterday, view the video below. Because the funnel was so large, the videographers didn't even realize that they were capturing an actual tornado.