Rain uprooted trees. This tree fell on queens road in charlotte. There are similar scenes across the charlotte area and Pamela Escobar joins us live from willmore neighborhood centuries down today and the next sound you hear could be chainsaws . That is right. You will need chainsaws for this tree on top of this car. The trunk did see chainsaws because it fell at 8 00 a. M. And neighbors tell me that they are not blaming the winds but saying all the rain that weve had has affected the ground. As you saw this massive tree in edgehill park fell at lunchtime on to queens road. Neighbors say no one was hurt and it did not hit a house burt it will take sometime to clear the debris. Strong winds and weak roots caused other trees to fall and property was not spared. This house on West Boulevard was the tree came out of the ground as the treetopled over. People love living in these areas but when the storms come through this can be the result. Relived here 25 years ago that hugo came through and at that time i mean, they took out 100 trees like this. Throughout this neighborhood. I spoke to the woman who owns this car and she was not able to go to work but is thankful that no one was hurt. I will have much more on how these trees coming down has affected this neighborhood and even took out power. Reporting live in charlotte, Pamela Escobar wbtv on your side side. This is Green Vista Court and the mans granddaughter was sleeping inside and hit in the face by debris. One got seriously hurt. Man scared me to death. I seen so many trees fell on peoples houses, garages, cars and i dont like that. I thank the lord nobody got hurt. His name is sheppard and he says he is concerned that other trees could fall. He hopes to have them removed. Look at this downed trees caused problems in gaston county. Take a look. This tree fell into a home in mount holly. Wbtvs Christian Flores spoke to the owner and joins us live from mount holly with more. Christian . Maureen nobody was inside the home so nobody was hurt after seeing how much damage the downed tree caused the homeowner says she is lucky to be alive. Alesha cannot believe her eyes when she sees what her home im devastated that me and my son lived here for 20 years and my home is a loss. Heavy winds toppled trees and took down power lines in gaston county. One neighbor was worried her house would be hit. Im nervous because they are calling for winds and we have big trees back here and there is a couple that are dead and so afraid they are going to come down. She was not inside when the home. You have to take it in stride and pray about it and get through it the best you can. Stay with family members and get it repaired. After seeing the damage she and her neighbor say its fortunate nobody was hurt. Very, very lucky if she would have been in there. If she would have been in the living room she would have gotten hurt. Im blessed. Things happen for a reason im you cannot replace your life. Once the tree is removed she is going to try and salvage personal belongings. Christian flores, wbtv on your side. Very fortunate right now part of 277 in charlotte is shutdown after trees fell on to the roadway here. Look at this video of that downed tree. Ncdot says the ramp from freedom drive south clarkson street to 277 outer will be closed until ararnd 6 00 p. M. Tonight. Almost an hour. The ramp to c cson boulevard will also be shutdown. Use caution in you must drive around this area. Many of you are sending us your photos of storm damage. Take a look at this downed power line on south boulevard. Fake a look at this for take a look at the clouds. You can share your photos on the facebook page. And we will be on your side with Live Team Coverage throughout the evening. Later at 5 00 p. M. You will hear from a woman who was inside her home when a large tree fell into the house. Then all new at 6 00 p. M. We are talking with duke energy about the dangers of the downed power lines. And as parts of our area prepare for a shift in the forecast it could bring snow download the wbtv weather app. We showed you that downed tree on 277 causing a hazard curious about other problems. Lets check in with tonya rivens. We have a lot of problems. I will get to the roadways in just a moment. We have an accident at monroe road and wendover creating problems. Randolph is a great alternate route. And notice where we have obstruction in his area and another near the plaza one at new orleans road. All around the area commuters should exercise caution and there may be frustration because all around the city we have downed trees and power lines and issues on the roadways. Sponsored by peoples bank. Thank you. Right now the battle over South Carolina is on. Donald trump is on a roll after his win in nevada. Adding to the victories in New Hampshire and South Carolina. And now, the democratic president ial candidates battling for the palmetto state. Hillary clinton and Bernie Sanders both made stops in South Carolina today the president ial hopefuls are trying to rally lastminute support ahead of saturdays primary. Michael clark has more. Democratic president ial hopeful Hillary Clinton continues to pound the pavement in South Carolina. Even though she is polling well ahead of Bernie Sanders. Clinton stopped in charleston and columbia with three days to go until the primary sanders talked about helping the less fortunate before leaving to focus o other states. History of the world we do not have to have children living in extreme poverty. That we need a government that represents all of us not just the wealthy and the powerful. Signs for both candidates can be found all over york county. Billy graham will campaign for hillary in rock hill. The professor says the support behind clinton will help her in the state where most of the democratic voters are nonwhite. She picked up a number of black community and that will be a help to her. Bernie sanders is out of South Carolina focusing on other states, he is reaching out to young and black voters to try and lessen hillarys lead. If he spends time and effort and does not do well it will reflect badly on the campaign but if he goes off to the next stop it does not look as bad when he loses. Voters broke records in the state republican primary. To see a heavy turnout. Any registered voter can cast a ballot. In rock hill, Michael Clark wbtv on your side. South carolinas democratic primary is this coming saturday. Right now thousands of people in our area are without power as the strong winds continue to roll through our area. Lets get right to alex giles live in the alert center with updated numbers. We have been watching the maps all day. Look at this latest map. In the charlotte area. The latest totals show 17,000 customers without power in mecklenberg county and we saw that number drop down to 11,000 an hour ago but it jumped backup. 5,000 people without power in gaston county. We will keep watching the numbers as the crews work to try and restore power. We will update you as soon as we get new numbers. Thank you. Winds and hail and tornadoes continues from florida up the midatlantic. Next, on your side with a look at the latest round of Severe Weather that claimed five lives. Paul as that line of thunderstorms moves out high winds are going nowhere and we are concerned about it. And perhaps look at that, way back to the northwest, snow on the horizon, that, too, coming firstalert forecast. A live picture of a busy street in myers park this tree has fall help the corps of queens and henley. This tree is in the road and it has been uprooted. The roots look like they are and the oaks they fall when the ground is saturated as we have seem the rain falling this week. We have we love our canopy here in charlotte but this is the example of one of the downsides with the wet ground and high winds interest and the big oaks they catch the wind. And you can see the result. Part of the road is blocked. A huge, huge job ahead. Well, as you know, parts of the carolinas remain under watches and warnings. But it began in the gulf states and it really slammed them hard. Now five People Killed and dozens hospitalized after tornadoes ripped across town from mississippi to florida. Jamie boll has the latest. At least 70 homes are damaged in the pensacola area after a tornado rolled through last night. Floridas governor toured today and promised victims help is on the way. We are here to make sure that normal life. And this couple rode out the storm in a closet. I pushed her in there. And went in behind her. And when she went down there was glass down from just opening the door. It was something that you never want to imagine going through. Never. Despite all the damage, no major injuries are reported in pensacola. In louisiana, crews are searching for additional victims in this trailer park. At least two people are dead and dozens hurt after a tornado sent mobile homes flying. Our family members calling in that has not made contact with loved ones and that they know were in the area. Another twister blew the roof off this gym in prairieville. We had 35 people here and eight kids in the daycare it was a scary situation. The nasty weather took a turn northh moving into knoxville, tennessee where winds took down all that before setting its sights on us here in the carolinas. Jamie boll wbtv on your side. And now to some live pictures this is highway 74, union church road. Our photographer has captured this tree and its uprooted and now leaning against the lines there on the side of the road. Im sure duke energy is aware of this but this is in union county. This is highway 74 is independence but as you make your way there, you can see duke energy appears to be on the scene assessing what is going on there. That will be a problem that we see throughout the night. Watch as the limbs whip about with the high wind gusts and they will continue for sometime to come. The storm made for a mess on the roads today. Here is tonya rivens and see if there are problems right now . Its interesting that what is happening around the city. Charlotte notice all of the icons we have indicating the traffic signal failure that the lights are not working. We have this cluster starting at 485 and johnston road by john day delaney and Ballantyne Commons parkway around 521 and 485, lancaster highway. Traffic signal not working and that can be dangerous if you are not acknowledging the other drives use caution. And around 485 an accident closer to providence near lancelot. An object truckion on the obstruction on the road. Use caution. Your first alert traffic is sponsored by peoples bank. Back to you. All right thank you. We were watching our hd towercam jostling there. Its moving around and right now we cannot show it because its moving so much. There it is. Make you seasick and we have eric thomas with more. Yeah, paul, and this will illustrate it well. We are in the midowl of a powerful wind field and everybody is focused on the tornado warnings that came through. There is the line and its causing problems through the i95 corridor with that tornado watch and look at the circulation around this area of low pressure over the ohio valley and the circulation is still showing up in Central Alabama and creating showers and pulling all that back into the wbtv viewing area. Again, the worst of it in terms of the Severe Weather and the tornado threat you are seeing tornado warnings there if you have friends and family but its now about the wind and you will see the showers that are getting pushed back into the area. But here is what i want to point out. You are looking at storm reports only within the last hour. And so notice where suddenly they are showing up. Not around the piedmont. But all of a sudden within the last hour wind damage reports this is why we have the high wind warning in effect because theres problems now on the other side of asheville that is why the warning will remain in effect until 7 00 p. M. But even so they will cover themselves for the rest of the viewing area with this wind advisory through noon tomorrow and that is accounting for gusts up to or exceeding 50milesperhour and the advisory in the North Carolina mountains. Here again, you will see how the gusts will be in that 30mileperhour range. 4050 in the mountains through 11 00 p. M. And then we are looking at gusty conditions when you get out the door tomorrow morning at 7 00 a. M. And finally they start to subside a little bit through the day. But again look at the circulation and all of that producing the wind that will take us through the 11 00 p. M. Hour. And how about the temperatures . Look at the cool colors, racing in here. Once we get on the backside of that we will be in the 40s after we hit 72 for the high tomorrow morning. Again, you see the snow rolling cooler air. For everybody else it will be about the wind. 41 with the chilly conditions. But the snow it will not let up as we take you into the carolina high country you could be on the lookout for accumulations 35 inches through the day on thursday. Things are staying busy here and the rest of the sevenday firstalert forecast then. All right, we do begin to settle down here. There is that mountain snow through friday. After that, you will see what happens here. Temperatures will not be bad. We have a great weekend on tap for you. But again subfreezing air as well into the weekend timeframe. Back to the studio. Thank you. Nix next video of a new fraud that is very, very concerning to charlotte detectives. And our Team Weather Coverage continues at 6 00 p. M. We are talking to duke energy about the danger of downed power lines today. Introducing longhorns big, bold, steaks. The only way to make em better was to make em bigger. Our new center cut 10 ounce filet. Our perfectly seasoned 16 ounce tbone. And our fire grilled 18 ounce outlaw ribeye. Big, bold, steaks. You cant fake steak. For lunch, try our steakhouse burger or any steakhouse lunch combo starting at 7. Lowes presents how to put your foot in your mouth. Man, wish my yard looked like yours. Hey, the grass is always greener on the other side of the. Sorry. Now get 20 off stagreen fertilizer, get you over to alex giles live in our alert center with the details of a meth lab investigation. Look at this videoment this is a search warrant executed in mount holly road when the officers especiallyterred they located evidence of a meth lab and took several people into custody. And police are interviewing those people. As soon as we get information about charges we will bring that thank you. Thank you. Next at 5 00 p. M. We have new information on a dog shot 18 times with a bb gun. And hear from a woman inside crashing in. Announcer wbtv on your side. Wbtv news starts right now. Now at 5 00 trees down because of high winds. They are bringing down power lines and destroying homes. Welcome to wbtv news im molly grantham. Im jamie boll. Glad you are with us. You can see some of the damage behind us from todays storm from hickory to charlotte to spencer it left its mark. And woo may see more trees down. And just off to the east more areas are under a tornado watch. That is why we are on your side with the Team Coverage we will start with meteorologist lyndsay tapases. What does it look like right now . We are transitioning to the as you saw, the tornado watch for the most part is off to the east. We technically have a couple of wbtv counties under the watch and those will be dropped shortly. Instead it will be the wind advisory. The warning that will be our issue Going Forward through tonight. And the reason being, this is the line here that produced the severe thunderstorm warnings and tornado warnings earlier on today and now that main line shifted east its taking the Severe Weather threat along with it. That is right along this line where there are active tornado warnings in the red towards fayetteville thunderstorm warn ago long that line which is hugging the 95 corridor. For us, while we have leftover showers that may be splash and dash through the evening they are tame and not producing thunder and lightning let alone Severe Weather. And we have a Winter Weather advisory for the mountains. They will see snow tonight and into tomorrow. But in the shortterm it will be about the wind. This is the large scale system where the center of the storm is in ohio. Take a look how big this is. It has a large and strong wind field associated with it as well. Which is why we have the high wind warning and advisory in place through the night. We are seeing areas gusting 3045milesperhour and the winds do not back off until well into the day tomorrow. More details what you can expect for the night and into tomorrow coming up in your first alert forecast. The aftermath developing. Lets go to alex giles live in the alert center. And not just small trees and limits but really big trees coming down in our neighborhoods causing power outages. And that is the case in one main area in charlotte. Lets look at the live picture. That is a huge tree down. That is queens road and henley place. Wow