Two children in Western North Carolina are among the fatalities from a strong storm system that ravaged the Southeast over the weekend.
The boys, 11 and 13, died early Sunday morning after high winds caused a tree to fall on the trailer where they lived near Brevard.
The tree was about three feet wide and took hours to cut, lift and stabilize, according to Connestee Fire Rescue. Firefighters were dispatched at 3:38 a.m. and found three survivors.
After three hours and a “very extensive and lengthy extrication process,” the firefighters recovered the bodies of the two boys.
“ It split the trailer right down the middle,” Transylvania County Sheriff Chuck Owenby told BPR. “ We ended up having to get a couple of trackhoes and cranes and had a lot of help from the community just to get be able to get to them.”
Downed trees blocking roads further complicated the response, Owenby said.
The two boys are among dozens of other people killed by the harsh storms across the region. High winds and tornadoes destroyed hundreds of homes over the weekend.
Tornadoes tore across Missouri and Arkansas late Saturday. Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana remained under threat from severe weather late Saturday.
Thousands of Western North Carolinians were without electricity Sunday morning as the high winds downed power lines across the region.
About 10,000 customers in the Hendersonville and Brevard area and about 5,000 households in the Asheville area are without power as of 10 a.m. Sunday, according to Duke Energy.
Duke Energy crews are working to repair the widespread outages.
Due to storm impacts, Holmes Educational State Forest in Hendersonville is closed to the public.
The National Weather Service issued an advisory warning of a powerful storm system with heavy rain and strong to severe storms.
The advisory also warned of isolated nuisance flooding which may cause inconveniences and stress infrastructure but does not threaten public safety. Isolated tornadoes were also a possibility, according to the advisory which was in effect until 2 p.m. Sunday.
