ROCKINGHAM — Strong winds from a line of storms that passed through Wednesday night left several trees down throughout Richmond County.
Rockingham Fire Chief Harold Isler said his department responded to four calls at one time, three of which were downed trees.
One of the largest was on Wall Street. There was also one down at the corner of Lee and Greene streets and one down on Long Drive in front of PruittHealth, Isler said.
A small tree in front of Pattan's Downtown Grille was also blown over during the storm.
The department’s other call was for an alarm at the Sara Lee plant. Isler said he thinks a power surge caused the alarm to go off.
Over in Hamlet, there was a “pretty large” tree that fell across Third Street near U.S. 74 Business, according to Assistant Fire Chief Richard Lassiter.
Another smaller tree was downed on North Street.
No power lines were affected, he added.
Up in the extreme northwest corner of the county, a tree fell at Homer Andrews Road and Grassy Island Road in Mangum, according to Keith Smith, chief of Mountain Creek Volunteer Fire Department.
No trees were reported down in the districts served by Hoffman, Ellerbe, East Rockingham or Cordova fire departments.
Strong wind gusts of up to 35 mph blew throughout the day on Thursday with low relative humidity resulting in increased fire danger and is expected to continue into the following day, according to the National Weather Service.
“Low relative humidity of 20 to 30 percent and wind gusts up to 20 to 30 mph on Friday will lead to another day of increased fire danger, from mid morning through Friday afternoon,” meteorologists said in a special weather statement. “Adverse fire behavior is possible, and outdoor burning is discouraged.”
There is another chance for trees to fall as the weekend gives into next week.
WCNC meteorologist Brad Panovich posted on his Facebook page Thursday that strong overnight winds with gusts forecast up to 70 mph following rain all day on Sunday could result in numerous trees and powerlines coming down.
