Possible tornado hits Jones County town

TRENTON - Tree trunks, leaves and limbs littered N.C. 41, N.C. 58, other streets and yards Thursday evening after a storm passed through town.

But officials said no injuries were reported, and a meteorologist said the National Weather Service will not know until today whether the storm, which went through town about 5:30 p.m., included a tornado.

"We've got a survey team that will be up there to look at it," meteorologist Chris Collins said. "It may have been straight-line winds. It may have been a tornado. We've heard conflicting reports."

Billy Moore watched from the porch of his cousin's house at 203 Trent St. as the storm entered town and moved out. A limb fell onto the house, damaging the back porch and two vehicles, one a new Nissan Titan pickup.

"We were watching and boom, the whole house just felt like somebody rocked it," Moore said. "I'm just hoping things will calm down."

It was the second time this week that Moore had stood on his front porch and watched damage happen. On Monday, he watched the house next door burn about 4 a.m.

Many stood Thursday in the cemetery at the intersection of East Jones and North Weber streets and took pictures of three trees that had fallen onto and between headstones. The downed trees knocked several headstones sideways.

Progress Energy workers on King Street said they only had one downed power line to work on. One of the workers said most people had power.

Chief Timmy Coward and members of the Trenton Fire Department stood near King Street to make sure large trucks did not try to drive under a damaged telephone line on Jones Street. Coward said wind-damaged shingles and other parts of the fire station on Cherry Street.

The roof caved in on a storage building at the fire department, said Glenn Spivey, the town clerk. Spivey also operates Trenton Hardware and works with the fire department. He said he heard on a fire scanner about 5:30 p.m. that there was a tornado warning in Jones County.

"I walked out in the street and saw the rain coming, no tornado or anything like that," he said. "I could see the rain coming down the street. Then we had the winds for about 10 to 15 minutes. I closed up the shop and went to work."

Spivey used a backhoe to move limbs off power lines near several buildings near the courthouse. He said he has operated the town's backhoe for more than 20 years, including several times during hurricanes.

"At least there's no more damage done and nobody hurt here," he said. Officials did not have a damage estimate after the storm.

Chris Collins of the Weather Service said about a quarter inch of rain fell in the Trenton area. He said he knew of no major damage in Craven County when the storm that went through Trenton traveled through the Croatan National Forest.