Severe weather downs trees, power lines

February 28, 2011

Severe weather swept through Catawba County on Monday afternoon, leaving downed power lines and toppled trees in the storm's wake.

Catawba County's emergency communications center was swapped with calls for service as residents reported power lines in the roadways, fallen trees on houses and even funnel-like clouds in the area.

Catawba County is no longer under a National Weater Service-issued torndao watch, which was canceled for the area about 6:15 p.m. 

NWS previously issued a tornado watch for Catawba County on Monday until 8 p.m. The county was one of 33 other North Carolina counties under the watch, including Caldwell, Lincoln, Burke and Iredell counties. 

The county's communications center received reports of:

-A fallen tree on a house in the 1000 block of Fourth Street southwest in Conover

-A downed power line blocking Whitener Road in Hickory

-A lightening strike to a residence in 3000 block of U.S. 321 south in Hickory. 

As of 6:15 p.m. Monday, Duke Energy reported 968 outages in Catawba County.