LANCASTER COUNTY, S.C. — Thunderstorms brought visible damage to Chester and Lancaster counties on Sunday night.
On Monday, National Weather Service officials visited the areas impacted by the damaging storms. While they found no evidence of a tornado, they did find damage consistent with severe thunderstorm winds up to 80 mph. These "straight line winds" were as strong as winds found in a Category 1 hurricane.
RAISE YOUR WEATHER IQ: Wind damage and microbursts
The storm and its damaging winds produced caused the most damage between Fort Lawn on Chester County and an area south of Heath Springs in Lancaster County.
“By seeing the direction in which the damage fell, helps us determine if it was straight line winds or a tornado. In the case where everything’s all generally moving in the same direction, that’s a strong indicator of what we call straight line winds," John Quagliariello with the National Weather Service said. "If we see the trees kind of crossing or falling in opposite directions, that’s something that would indicate a possible tornado twist.”
"I thought I heard hail. I’ve got a metal roof and it sound like hail. I didn’t go outside to check it out, but it was pretty rough," Michael Anderson, who lives in Fort Lawn, said.
Trees were downed and debris left behind at homes throughout his neighborhood.
"In the middle of the night the rain came hard and then our power went off like three or four times," Fred Flores, who lives in Great Falls near Fort Lawn, said, "We live down there at the edge where it’s just really boondocks. So, it was kind of scary a little bit. It really was.”
Chester County
Trees fell on Interstate 77 southbound around 8:54 p.m. No injuries were reported.
Two gas station canopies fell during the storms, according to the National Weather Service.
The first fell near Great Falls, South Carolina around 9:04 p.m. uprooting one of the gas pumps. The second fell just a minute later near Fort Lawn, South Carolina around 9:05 p.m.
Storm damage in Lancaster and Chester counties
Howard Roscoe said he was driving by the Fort Lawn gas station on the way home from work. He was shocked to return the next day to find its canopy down and a red car pinned underneath.
“As I was coming through Fort Lawn, all of a sudden just massive clouds, rain... Drove right by this store," Roscoe said. "I actually started to pull over myself because I couldn’t see out the windshield, but thank God I didn’t, like I say, put on my four-way flashers.”
The gas station owner tells WCNC Charlotte a woman and her mom were driving the car and they're safe.
Crews have since removed the gas station canopy for repair. The car that was pinned underneath has also been removed.
Lancaster County
No gas station canopies fell in Lancaster County but trees were reported down on several roads.
Numerous trees were reported to have fallen across several roads south of Lancaster around 9:06 p.m.
Minutes later, the South Carolina Highway Patrol reported trees down on New Hope Road and JB Denton Road.
Damage was also reported in Kershaw and Sumter counties in South Carolina.
On Monday, National Weather Service officials were traveling to Chester and Lancaster counties to examine story damage. It will be up to them to determine the intensity of the winds that caused the storm damage Sunday night.
WCNC Charlotte’s Weather IQ YouTube channel gives detailed explainers from the WCNC Charlotte weather meteorologists to help you learn and understand weather, climate and science. Watch previous stories where you can raise your Weather IQ in the YouTube playlist below and subscribe to get updated when new videos are uploaded.