Residents describe terror as storm damages Spartanburg

Feb. 7--Shortly after the power went out Thursday morning, Holly Stamey began screaming in the dark for her 4-year-old daughter and 85-year-old grandmother to get to the basement.

Standing in the kitchen of her home in the Park Hills neighborhood, she looked out the window and saw debris flying through the air in a circular pattern. It looked like a tornado was blowing through.

"As soon as I touched the floor of the basement, I got a tornado warning on my phone," Stamey said. "We were down there less than five minutes, and I could hear things crashing everywhere."

A power pole snapped in two a few houses down. A live power line crashed down in Stamey's yard with a sizzle and hiss.

Trees began to fall, too. A thick pine came to rest in Melissa Earley's yard across the street from Stamey. It spared her home.

Stamey wasn't as lucky. At least three trees crashed atop her roof. One landed on top of her grandmother's car.

But while Stamey was in the basement, she wasn't thinking about the damage happening outside. She worried about her children.

As the wind picked up, as the power flipped off and the floodwaters rushed in all across Spartanburg, her two sons, 9 and 7, were at Green Charter School nearby.

"My first thought when I stepped outside: I hope my kids are OK," she said. "I was panicking, and I called the school. I said, 'We have trees down on the house. Is everyone OK?'"

All of her kids were fine.

"When I shouted at my youngest daughter to get into the basement, she was right where one of the trees fell. If that tree would have fallen through the house it would have hit them. My nerves are shot, but we are lucky it wasn't worse."

Converse Heights hit hard

Fallen century-old trees, uprooted sidewalks and downed power lines could be seen all over Converse Heights as residents began to survey the damage Thursday afternoon.

Large trees fell on homes, vehicles and across roads. The landscaped median dividing Mills Avenue was shredded as drivers weaved around downed trees.

One large tree came down across Mills Avenue near Otis Boulevard, totaling Keri Wagner's car and causing damage to the fence, porch and windows of her house.

Wagner, a preschool teacher at Advent Children's Center, was at the school when a parent came in to get their child and told her a tree was down at her house. Wagner's husband was home at the time, but no one was injured.

"It's funny because it's our anniversary," Wagner said. "Something bad happens every time. Last year, we all had the flu. The year before, my dad had a quadruple bypass. So we were kind of expecting something bad to happen.

"As long as everyone was safe we're kind of laughing about it because all of this can be replaced," she added.

A 100-year-old tree that had stood at Dawn Dingwell's home came down across Connecticut Avenue, which also took down a power line. She had just gotten home from work to see the damage. Aside from landscaping and fence damage, Dingwell didn't see any apparent damage to the house.

"Wow, I hate to see that tree go," said Dingwell. "It's been there a long time, and it was a healthy beautiful tree. I'm just glad nobody was hurt."

Eye on the storm

Tall pines snapped like twigs and crashed onto several units at Crown Pointe Apartments on Powell Mill Road.

"Around 10:25 this morning, I heard a loud bang," said Misty Carpenter. "I got up, rain started pouring down. I looked out the balcony window and saw a white out. I go to the breezeway and saw trees started to go down. I looked over to my left, it was about to come over top of us.

"I saw a tornado coming. It came right on top of us. Huge. It was fast-moving."

Her husband, Donald Carpenter Jr., said his wife woke him up as the storm hit.

"Five minutes afterwards, I got the message on my telephone about the tornado warning," he said. "By that time, it was already over. And all this was odd."

He said their apartment sustained minor damage, unlike neighbors where snapped trees fell on roofs.

They stood outside in the rain Thursday afternoon, waiting for their three daughters to arrive home from school. Two are 8 and 9 and attend nearby Jesse Bobo Elementary School, while a 13-year-old attends Fairforest Middle School, which closed early, the Carpenters said.

Cleanup crews were busy cutting and removing tree limbs around the apartment complex.

Elsewhere, on Crescent Avenue near the District 7 Learning Center, trees knocked down power lines, jutting partially into the roadway. Cars drove slowly around the scene.

Several traffic lights were still out Thursday afternoon, and emergency crews were redirecting traffic along several major roads, including W.O. Ezell Boulevard heading into the downtown.

'I thought I'd lost her'

Ryan Connell figures he'd be dead if he had stayed in his chair much longer.

Connell was sitting in an upstairs room of his Hydrick Street home Thursday morning when he heard the blaring of a tornado warning siren. His brother, Matthew, yelled up from the first floor that they needed to get to the basement.

Shortly after they reached the basement, a large oak tree came crashing through the roof, with heavy limbs and power lines landing in the room that Ryan had just vacated.

His dog, Buddha, had remained in the room and was trapped by the debris.

When the brothers emerged from the basement and heard Buddha's cries, Matthew managed to wedge his way into the ruined room and bring her out.

"I thought I'd lost her," Ryan Connell said. "She's terrified, but she's OK."

Matthew said he didn't think twice about going after Buddha when he saw his brother's anguish.

"You'd have done the same thing if you'd seen how bad he was hurting," Matthew said.

'There could've been people in here'

Several downed trees caused roof damage at The Journey church on South Forest Street, causing water to pour into part of the building.

"I came inside and it was raining in here," said Josh Tibbs, a member of the church who stopped by on his way home after seeing the downed trees outside.

Water was pouring into the main foyer of the building. Tibbs said there also was some damage to a nearby office and classroom.

"We're going to have to come together as a church and get it cleaned up," said Tibbs. "I know that we've got the people that have the hearts that want to do it. It's just something that we've got to overcome."

"It could be worse," he added. "There could've been people in here. Buildings can be rebuilt. Water can be cleaned up. Thank God nobody was hurt. I know that our family here will come together, get it cleaned up and get back on track."

Taking cover

Customers and employees at the Starbucks on West Blackstock Road were forced to take cover Thursday morning shortly after 10 a.m. when strong winds and rains struck the city's west side.

Steady rain had persisted before the strong winds pushed through. A sudden rush of intense wind caused utility lines to spark. Customers caught in their vehicles during the high winds rushed back inside the store to take cover.

"I felt danger and anxiety right away," said Tinamarie Bowman of Spartanburg. "After it was over, I started worrying about other people's safety."

Bowman contacted her daughters, who are students at Dorman High School. She said students there had taken cover in hallways when the storm passed through.

Downtown blast

Groucho's Deli in downtown Spartanburg sustained storm damage Thursday morning from high winds.

Katie Morris, Groucho's Deli operator, said she was inside the store at 10:30 a.m. when all the windows were blown out.

"Everything got all white when the wind and rain came through," Morris said. "I ran to the closet and glass just started flying everywhere. I opened up the door and could see all the glass flying everywhere."

Morris said she was the only person in the store at 100 E. Main St., when the storm struck.

"It was terrifying," Morris said. "I keep telling people it was like something you see in a movie."

The store was closed Thursday afternoon. Morris said her insurance company was assessing the damages.

Order in the court

Spartanburg County bailiff Lorentz Bogan said the courthouse was being used to shelter people due to the severe weather. About 25 people, including members of an active jury, were escorted and sat together in a probate court courtroom moments after a weather alert was issued for a tornado sighting.

Among them was Cassandra Eddy of Spartanburg, who was visiting the courthouse Thursday morning to get a copy of her marriage license. She and her husband, Austin Sheridan, were married Wednesday.

"My husband is a little worried because he's outside," Eddy said. "A tree fell right in front of our car and got part of the car."

Robert W. Dalton, Chris Lavender, Gabe Whisnant and Anna Mitchell of the Greenville News also contributed to this report.

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