© NCSU Student Media 2011
Governor Bev Perdue addresses the media at the corner of Cabarrus Street and Bloodworth Street in downtown Raleigh April 17, 2011. Perdue said she had been in contact with President Barack Obama after a tornado damaged the area April 16. Photo by Alex Sanchez
The scene of broken power lines, dead traffic lights and limbless trees was striking against the normalcy of spring sunshine Sunday afternoon on Bloodworth Street.
At the intersection of Bloodworth Street and Cabarrus Street, Governor Bev Perdue reflects on her six and a half hour tour of damaged eastern North Carolina.
“I’ve seen a lot of damage in N.C .over the years, but this is the most catastrophic I’ve ever seen,” Perdue said. “There’s tremendous property damage, destroyed schools and infrastructure damage in 23 counties.”
Perdue said she was most affected by the accounts of people who were most affected by the storm.
“I’m not shocked at all by the damage, but I was truly sad, almost to the point of tears, when I talked to the people,” Perdue said. “They were so grateful to be alive. Everything around them is gone, but they were so grateful to be alive.”
There were power outages on Centennial Campus and areas south of Main Campus, but downed limbs were the worst of the damage.
Progress Energy restored power to Centennial Campus around 1:50 p.m., after Saturday’s storm caused a power outage around 4:00 p.m. Saturday.
Centennial Campus was left without power after the devastating storm that hit the entire state of North Carolina Saturday. Power has been restored to Centennial Campus, and there are no other on-campus power outages, according to Sergeant Frank Brinkley of the Campus Police Department.
Fire alarms on campus went off during the storm because rainwater seeped through roofs, Brinkley said. Some limbs were reported to have fallen around campus, but no major damage has been reported thus far. The City of Raleigh does not have any weather warning sirens.
” N.C . State was very lucky compared with the damage across [Raleigh],” Brinkley said.
No injuries were reported to Campus Police.
46,000 to 47,000 Progress Energy customers remain without power across the state, half of which are in Wake County, according to Mike Hughes, a Progress Energy spokesman.
The “vast majority” of those outages will be repaired by midnight Monday, and the rest will be repaired Tuesday, Hughes said. Progress Energy currently has 1,000 workers in the field attempting to make repairs.
Progress Energy did not have information in enough detail to comment on outages on N.C . State’s campus.
According to a letter from Shaw University President Irma McClaurin, classes are suspended for the remainder of the semester as of noon April 17.
“While I knew that the situation was adverse during the evening, daylight has revealed that it will be impossible for us to safely conduct classes and return to business as usual,” McClaurin said in the letter. “Thus, I have made the difficult decision of suspending classes for the remainder of the semester.”
Shaw students will be graded on the work they have completed thus far and the Math and English Competency Exam requirements are suspended for this semester only.
Check back later for updates.
Staff Writers John Wall and Justin Rose, as well as Editor-in-Chief Amanda Wilkins contributed to this report.
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National Weather Service reports for Raleigh
For information, Campus Police Number: 919-515-3000
To report injuries: 911
To report power outages, Progress Energy: 800-419-6356
To see power outages, see Progress Energy’s outage map.
To report weather occurrences, NOAA: 1-877-633-6772
Photographer Tim O’Brien took this video of Rocky Branch Creek at Varsity Drive/Sullivan Drive moments after the storm passed. See the NOAA website for updates about the storms and warnings.