Storms today. In rowan county much of the town of spencer is without power after a huge tree came crashing down on a power line. Wbtvs David Whisenant is live now. And any word when the power is going to be restored . Well, we just know it will be sometime around 6 00 p. M. And as of right now there are 1400 folks without power. I have to show you something right behind me. See that road closed sign this is long ferry road and about 15 minutes ago lyndsay mentioned 45milesperhour. I think i know where it was. Because the wind blew that sign off the road over on to the shoulder, the highway worker had to come back out and put the sandbags down. Strong winds here right now. But the real problem happened when the tree did come tumbling down on the road im on right now. Firefighters from the fire department. Like many they were going to another call when they saw this huge tree crash across the road and pulled down several power poles and left a huge mess of power lines that is why it created so many outages from homes to shopping centers, schools and again duke energy estimated there were 2000 outages and right now about 1400 outages in the area here in the town of spencer. And this was not the only part of the county that dealt with problems. There were problems throughout the day from winds that came through very early this morning and around 9 30 or 10 00 a. M. And everything that happened around 1 00 p. M. Which includes what happened here coming up i will take you around the county and show you other things that happened today. Live in spencer, David Whisenant wbtv on your side. No shortage of things to shoot today. A couple in florida is shaken up after a possible tornado tore by their house. The couple says there was no warning they took cover in a closet underneath the stairs in their home. We didnt have time to grab a flashlight or anything. Just run and then we were trying to get the door closed and we were pulling on it and it would not close. And we could not get it closed. Panic. Imagine . The couple walked outside and saw their neighbors homes but were surprised. And tonight continuing coverage of the damage the storms caused. A homeowner is trying to figure out what to do after a tree lands on their home. To the alert center alex giles is following the storm. Its out of our area but friends east of us are dealing with it right now. We just learned there is a Tornado Warning in wake county. Across the state here and using cameras from our affiliates to track that storm and tracking it on social media. Duke Basketball Team tweeted out this picture. Tornado warning on campus. The secret tunnel is a shelter and they are huddled in the hallway. We are watching the images on social media. We will bring you the latest here in the alert center. Alex giles live in the alert center. The storm moved out in time for the commute. Traffic center. And we have problems as workers clean up around the roadways. As we check in at wilkinson boulevard by i77 your first alert traffic is sponsored by peoples bank. So we still have the road closure westbound on wilkinson someone heading towards Charlotte DouglasInternational Airport they may want to use i85 and avoid wilkinson boulevard altogether. We have an accident close to the billy graham parkway at West Boulevard west tyvola is a great alternate route. And volume on yorkmont by i77. But south tryon and i77 southbound is moving along nicely. Back to you. Thank you. Lets go back to union county live pictures where the groundbreaking ceremony for the st. Jude dream home wrapped up. You can see the lot there. A family was there to tell their story today and you have never heard those stories, boy, they will get you. So much great work is being done at the hospital. Money raised goes to pay for the treatment for patients with childhood cancers and lifethreatening diseases. Wbtv a proud sponsor of the st. Jude dream home giveaway. Much more coming in the weeks ahead on air and online at wbtv. Com. Nice lot, lots of trees. Time to get to work. Police unions are taking performance and boycotting her concerts. And what they decided 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. Only at longhorn steakhouse. You cant fake steak. For lunch, try our steakhouse burger yotzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzsr` . Aenga . T could be moved to charleston. Legislators are considering moving the flag and other items to other museums in the state. Lawmakers say the proposal is all about saving taxpayer money. The plan to analyze museum space and the costs of moving the collections. The Raleigh Police union will not boycott beyonces concert. Some unions said her super bowl act contain antipolice messages. The raleigh association voted last night not to boycott beyonce but unions in miami, tampa and nashville, tennessee are calling for officers to boycott her music or urging them shows. Millions of cars recalled because of airbags blamed in 10 deaths. Scientists they believe they know why takata airbags are exploding. We have a high wind threat that will take us well into tomorrow. We have your complete sevenday shortly after the b [laughing] honey, you gotta see this Time Warner Cable now makes your internet do more. Honey [laughing] honey . Our ultrafast internet with home wifi keeps your devices connected, [laughing] anywhere in your home. [laughing] honey, have you seen this video . [laughing] discover how much more is included. Get 50 meg internet for 39. 99 per month. Call 1855want twc. Im paul cameron. Gusts of wind up to 50milesperhour. Topples trees and rips power lines from the ground. Our area is under a high wind warning. And live in the palmetto state as democratic president ial candidates push for the lastminute votes. And wbtv news first at 4 00 continues. And our Firstalert Weather Team tracking where the storm is moving now and what comes next. And we will check back in with our meteorologists in just a moment. Now, lets get to alex giles live in the alert center. And i know you are watching as the storm progresses through the eastern part of the state. And it has been impressive. Absolutely. We show you a live look at the storm as its moving east. This is in durham. You can see the rain covering the camera and wind is shaking that camera. I have been watching the feeds there, we are hearing reports that a tornado may have touched down in oxford, north carolina. The National Weather service southwest wake county and urging folks to shelter and get in and take cover. Its looking nasty. We are dealing with the winds and the sunny skies this way. Out there the storm is active. All right thank you. Impressive pictures like what we saw here, too, it was cloudy and rainy and a break in the clouds. A weird day. It has been. We have the top consumer headlines. Scientists hired by the Auto Industry say they have figured out what caused takata airbags to inflate. Design issues, moisture, humidity, heat and the use of a propellant are factors. They are blame willed for 10 deaths, 139 injuries. How much would it cost to buy one of everything offered on amazon . The answer nearly 12. 86 this according to a Computer Scientist in sewerric. Zurich. Amazon is not confirming that. One of everything. Not just everything but one of every item. That is like infinity on amazon. I dont know how you possibly add that up. Have you heard about this . The like button has a competition on facebook. Now if you hover your mouse over the thumbs up button you can choose that express feelings like love, haha, wow, sad, angry the opportunityions are available worldwide. Its different with your mobile device. Just 0 so we can freelyly expression our emotions. Sometimes like is not enough. Love it. Sometimes might be sad or right. Lets check around center city an accident at south boulevard and arlington avenue close to south tryon has cleared. That is great news considering what we have happening around the downtown area. The road closures at 277 outer at i77 and 277 outer at carson boulevard. And then heads up as well obstruction on west fifth and sycamore street. There is a lot of activity on the roads. Not as much aof a delay as far as commuters for drive times. Trees and fallen power lines. If you know someone commuting they may be delayed. A storm that hit florence county, South Carolina shows how it looks like the tree was blown up. Neighbors say it sounded like a bomb went off. Crews believe the troo tree was so saturated the water that the lightning boiled the water within the tree causing it to explode. We were talking about two deaths in louisiana, and now learning two more deaths, two People Killed in waiverly virginia because of the storm. And why we break in when they happen no matter what time of the day or program it is on it can be frustrating but we want to get the warnings out and we had several today. It might have been sunny at your house, but it was not at someone elses house. The worst of the storms as far as tornadoes have passed us and the winds are howling over to lip lynn in the first Lyndsay Tapases in the First Alert Weather Center. And the storm reports we got in. Every dot you see is a wind damage report. Several across our viewing area. You do not see tornado reports for us locally. So even though again we did have a couple of Tornado Warnings issued, at this time it does not sound like we have had anything confirmed the National Weather service will assess any damage that is speculated that could be due to a tornado. And well see Going Forward. But for now in the shortterm, again, Severe Weather locally no longer a threat. The threat has shifted east. And we have leftover severe thunderstorm warnings and Tornado Warnings that are right along the i95 corridor. Any leftover showers we have this evening there is not a lot picked up locally, but they are light and tame in comparison to the strong and severe storms that ripped through earlier on. As we go forward we have wind advisories and high wind weather advisory for avery county that extends back towards the southwestern mountains of north carolina. Because the snow in the mountains is going to become another aspect of this Going Forward. Tonight into tomorrow with colder air that is moving in. On the backside of this very, very large system we are dealing with. Futurecast, we will have the lippingerring showers with us through the evening hours and watch how it changes to snow by midnight for those of you in the high country. You will see the snow showers not only overnight but through tomorrow, too. It may take until tomorrow afternoon for those snow showers to shutoff. By friday, they have finished up. Outside of the mountains we will stay generally clear. Dprlly sunny tomorrow and friday but in the mountains you could end up with 35 inches maybe that will help prolong the ski season longer for the area resorts. Winds those will be an issue through tonight and well through the day tomorrow, too. Through the night. Your time stamp 8 00 p. M. And a lot of times on a windy day we see the wind back off at night. And we get a break but its not going to be the case tonight. The winds will be whipping all night long through tomorrow, too, 9 00 a. M. And tomorrow afternoon we never see these back off. Its not going to be until tomorrow night and friday that we catch a break from the wind. We are pulling gusts 40milesperhour outside of the mountains. And that is 4 00 p. M. Thursday on futurecast. And its very windy right now. We are at 68 in the charlotte area. And it was a mild day ahead of the cold front. But tonight we will start to feel the temperatures drop. We will fall into the 30s overnight. Upper 20s into the mountains. And tomorrow, of course, will not be as warm as today was. Mid50s which is close to average for the time of year. 56 in the charlotte area. Hold in the 30s for highs on thursday. All right, eric thomas with a look at the rest of the sevenday firstalert forecast coming up at 5 00 p. M. All right thank you. Next, another Blue Cross Blue Shield mixup a familys personal information in the hands of a woman in raleigh. And first hello to sara todays facebook fan of the day. Appreciate you liking us on facebook. We kept you updated on the weather and gave you the opportunity to send us your pictures to us. Wbtv. Com facebook is the place to go. On wbtv news is sponsored by. First at 4 00 more problems with Blue Cross Blue Shield. This time putting a union county familys private information into the hands of a woman in raleigh. She never met the family but she knows their birthdates, Social Security numbers and more. She realized her account was linked to theirs because she was mistakenly listed as jacks wife. She called Blue Cross Blue Shield and the company that handles the hsa. At that time i could have manipulated that familys investment portfolio. It is amazing how that one breach could have devastated him financially had we not been the type of people we are. Thankfully they were honest. Blue cross blue shield is working to resolve the situation. They have been call swamped with calls since january. It enrolled thousands of customers into wrong plans and others it deducted the wrong premium amounts from bank accounts. Next. Like a bomb somebody dropped a bomb. Strong winds ripped trees from the ground and tossed them on to homes. Next we are talking with two homeowners after trees caused significant damage to their houses. Our team of meteorologists is on your side with an updated forecast and a chance for snow . 90 seconds. Announcer wbtv on your side. Wbtv news starts right now. Right now, a high wind warning still in effect for our area for this powerful storm system brought rain with damaging wind gusts that uprooted trees sending them on to houses and snapping power lines. We have crews across our area to bring you the best Team Coverage and talking with a bring some snow for some of you. Nice to have you with us. We had wind gusts up to 50milesperhour. With this system. It left its mark behind as it moved through the area. Im maureen oboyle. Im paul cameron. It moved quickly and right now many of you are feeling the strong winds. As part of our area remains under watches and warnings. This video was shot outside our studios. You can see the gusts of wind and torrential rain. And you have to see this timelapse of the storm rolling across uptown around noon. This is shot from our hd towercam. You can see bursts of rain and the thick dark clouds passing over the skyline. And look this video was sent to us by kim fisher she shot it from the 40th floor of the bank of America Center in uptown. Chief meterologist, eric thomas and his team have been on your side updating you all afternoon on this storm system. And eric joins us live in the First Alert Weather Center with more where things stand right now. Paul, you and maureen mentioned we had gusts up to 50milesperhour. And that is not past tense that is still the case right here right now. The data is actually observed gusts right now 4050milesperhour showing up right here in the greater charlotte area and that extends up into the foothills and less right now up into the high country. Look at this carousel this monster area of low pressure. Ahead of it that tornado watch affecting a few counties on the area. Most of the intense thunderstorms now along the i95 corridor and what we have left this is shower activity coming back into the picture. Issue. It is the wind that high wind p. M. There is that tornado watch for Stanly County and richmond that will stay to the east. The wind advisory will remain in and then we have the Winter Weather advisory for accumulating snow moving into the high country and now meteorologist Lyndsay Tapases with more on that. Colder air moving on the backside of this storm system, eric, will change rain showers over to snow showers by midnight it looks like. And these will persist through the fight and through most of the day tomorrow. Futurecast your time stamp starting the clock at midnight and watch as we put this through tonight and tomorrow and tomorrow afternoon this is still midnight friday morning we are starting to see the snow showers taper off for the high country. It looks like they will have a good bit of accumulating snow Going Forward with everything that will add up through the Early Morning hours of friday. And could end up with 35 inches of snow in the high country maybe get late season skiing in. That will be good for them. Back over to you. Thank you. Right now a lot of our neighbors