Thursday morning tornado leaves at least 6 dead in Riegelwood area

• Blast at 6:35 a.m. explodes mobile homes and scatters bodies in woods along Holly Tree and Pretty Branch lanes just east of Acme-Delco Elementary School.

By BOB HIGH
Staff Writer

Several tornadoes blasted through Columbus County early today (Thursday) and at least six people were killed when one ripped through a mobile home community just east of the Acme-Delco Elementary School.

The six reported deaths mark the most people ever killed in a natural disaster in Columbus County. Five adults and an 8-year-old boy were killed.

The 6:35 a.m. storm could have killed others, but it was not confirmed at 10 a.m. today as to the total.

Sheriff Chris Batten confirmed the six dead. Rural roads and N.C. 11 near the scene were blocked by hundreds of vehicles.

Dozens of rescue and emergency personnel from four counties were searching a wooded area between Pretty Branch Lane and N.C. 87, about a mile west of the Riegelwood community.

Cadaver dogs were taken to the scene at 9 a.m., and a helicopter was called to fight the gusty winds in an attempt to locate victims, injured or dead, in the thick underbrush and wooded area.

Known dead, based on information furnished The News Reporter by neighbors and family members, are:

Mary Mai, 47, and her husband, Tim Mai, 48, who lived in a mobile home at the intersection of Holly Tree and Pretty Branch lanes.

Mike Mai, 23, an electrician, who lived with his parents. Their bodies were found scattered in the southern part of woods dotted with small pines and some other evergreen trees.

The bodies of O’Kenneth Tennell Wilson, 29, and Tyesha Wilson, 33, were found in the yard of Reggie Newkirk’s home across Holly Tree Lane. Both had been blown about 75 yards from where their home used to sit.

Chris Wilson, an 8-year-old boy living with the Wilsons, was one of the first two people taken to New Hanover Regional Medical Center with varying injuries. It is not clear if Wilson, found lying in a small ditch about 75 yards from his home, was the boy reported dead.

At least 16 injured people were reported to have been taken to New Hanover as of 9:20 a.m.

One man said a bed overturned on him and saved his life.

The Acme-Delco-Riegelwood Fire Rescue headquarters was used as a staging area for most rescue personnel. A team of nurses reported, along with fire and rescue personnel from many departments in Columbus, Bladen, Brunswick and New Hanover counties.

One person remarked, “It was a scene of death and one of survival.”

Shandell McLean, a neighbor of the Wilsons, said, “I heard a banging, but I didn’t pay it much attention. I looked out the window and didn’t see anything, but I heard the roar.

“I looked again and saw the tornado. It was dark and I saw the funnel after it hit the Wilson house. It went right down the road and hit the next houses,” McLean declared.

“I saw stuff in the air and it was moving north. I got the kids, got into my car and left,” McLean added.

The first house hit in the development was the mobile home of a truck driver who was not home. A large flat-bed trailer, normally parked at the edge of Holly Tree Lane, was picked up and deposited sideways in the front yard of the trucker’s home, and his home was blown off its foundation and moved about 20 feet north. A portion of the home hit the trailer.

The second home was that of the Wilson family. An overturned vehicle was found behind where the mobile home was normally located. The roof of the Wilson home was astride Holly Tree Lane, and traffic had to use the front yards of several neighbors.

Charles Faulk, who lives just south of the truck driver’s home, was close friends with the Mai family. He said Tim Mai worked for Rainbow Insulation. A Rainbow truck was blown about 100 feet from the home and part of the metal body was stripped.

Faulk said Mary Mai was an accountant, but he did not know her employer. Mike Mai, another victim, was the father of 3-year-old Cheyenne Mai, and it was not clear whether she was killed or injured.

“I heard the noise and I looked out and saw that the pine tree in the side yard was gone. I told my wife to get up and we got outside, and that’s when I saw what had happened,” Faulk said.

Other tornadoes touching down or being seen were reported south of Whiteville, in the Western Prong community and northwest of Whiteville near Bladenboro.

Damage or injuries in those areas were unknown at 10 a.m.

County Schools Superintendent Dan Strickland said there was no damage to schools whatsoever. Acme-Delco Elementary and Middle schools were taking a teacher workday. A shelter was scheduled to open at Acme-Delco Elementary School.

City Schools Superintendent Danny McPherson said that the city schools were on regular schedule and that they went through the tornado drill procedures and he had personally visited two of the schools.

In both systems, students in mobile units hade been relocated to main buildings.