Lightning struck houses, caused fires and downed trees during a storm that struck across the area Monday evening.

The front of Save - Photo by Ross McKinney

There are still a thousand or more people without power this morning following the severe storm which toppled trees on power lines and caused damages to some businesses.

Dominion Power's outage map shows more than 1,000 outages the company is still working on, work which should be completed by11 a.m.

The storm was accompanied by strong winds, which tore metal off the shingles at the old Bojangle's and caused damage to the shingles and roof of the Save A Lot grocery store.

Captain Andy Jackson of the Roanoke Rapids Police Department said the eastern part of the Roanoke Rapids was affected most by the storm. There were roads flooded and the storm dropped dime sized hail.

Roanoke Rapids Fire Chief Gary Corbet said lightning struck two houses in the city limits and there were reports of lightning damage in the county as well.

The storm began around 5 p.m. and immediately the fire department began responding to calls, Corbet said.

Lightning caused damage to a house on Newcastle Court, which is located off Old Farm Road, The lightning most likely caused electrical damage at the house. Another house was struck by lightning on Southgate Drive and it appears the heating and cooling system was damaged.

At Becker Manor the storm caused the elevator to malfunction, leaving a resident trapped. The person trapped used the emergency phone to call and firefighters used a manual override to send the elevator down. The person was not harmed.

There were trees down on Georgia Avenue and Raleigh Drive and reports of cable wires down.

One downed cable line on Harris Street and Bolling Road had drivers swerving to miss it, the fire chief said, before firefighters rolled it up and got it out of the roadway..

Flash flooding was reported on Clearfield Drive and a motor vehicle crash was reported on Julian R. Allsbrook Highway at Ruby Tuesday, requiring two people to be treated at the scene. “It's a miracle we didn't have more,” Corbet said. “With the traffic lights off, people did a real good job in not having a demolition derby.”

At 304-B Monroe Street, a camper trailer and truck beside it were destroyed in a fire caused by arcing power lines. No one was injured.

Tina Hinton, Halifax County emergency management coordinator, said the storm brought wind gusts of 45 to 48 miles per hour which spawned downbursts.

There was a house fire at Corbitt Drive in Weldon and road were flooded, mainly in Roanoke Rapids.

Public works crews in Roanoke Rapids stayed busy putting high water signs up and a tree fell into the back of a house on Raleigh Drive.

Hinton said more storms are expected this week and could bring the same kind of system through, one in which some 3 to 5 inches of rain fell.

Shelters will not be open during severe thunderstorms because of their lack of predictability. “Listen to your TV and stay in during severe weather emergencies.”

Fire damage at Corbitt Drive.

Weldon Fire Chief Rusty Bolt said the fire at 916 Corbitt Drive occurred around 5:30 p.m. when winds blew a tree into a power line. That pulled a neutral which energized the house and caused the fire.

Tracy and Tony Lewis were busy this morning doing salvage work on their house on Corbitt Drive. “The dog let us know what was happening,” Tony said. “She kept raising sand until we paid attention.”

The fire was contained to the kitchen and a storage area so they lost no clothing. They plan to repair the house themselves. “It's nothing we can't fix ourselves, that and a little help from neighbors.”