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  Large hail and violent winds surged into Edgefield County early Sunday morning web posted May 14, 2008 COUNTY – Fortunately, a pair of tornado warnings issued for the county (the first for the Town of Edgefield itself and for the Town of Johnston) only led to one touchdown according to emergency officials. As such, the damage sustained by the area for such powerful storms was relatively light. "We did have an F-0 tornado to touchdown, and that was confirmed by the National Weather Service in West Columbia on Monday," Edgefield County Emergency Management Director Mike Casey said. "It was in the area of McCreight Road and Old Plank Road and Waterworks Road extension. I think there was one tree on the road in the county, but no other real damage. I am surprised, but very grateful that we didn't have any damage on Sunday morning. We were very, very lucky. Based on the history of the storm system I was sure that we would have more storm damage than we did. Weather radios played a key role in keeping people awake. It's an inconvenience at four o'clock in the morning, but they did what they were supposed to do." Wind speed for an F-0 tornado is between 40 and 72 miles per hour. When asked about the possibility of activating town sirens in such an emergency, Casey said to do so (town warning sirens in Edgefield and Johnston are currently used for fires only) in the towns of Edgefield and Johnston would incur some cost, but that it was feasable at around $2,000. "You would have to have the tones change to be able to determine a difference (between a fire and tornado emergency)," he said. "But it is doable." Placing such sirens across the county would not be as cost-effective, Casey added. The first severe cell hit the area around 4 a.m. Sunday morning. "The National Weather Service called and said they were looking at a hook echo (on radar)," Casey said. Casey said when he went out to inspect areas in the county for damage, yet another severe cell hit the area just after 5 a.m. and a bit sooner than expected. "The hail was pretty big," Casey added. "Some of them were around the size of a ping-pong ball." Anyone interested in becoming a certified weather spotter should contact the Edgefield County Emergency Management Office at 637-2123. The National Weather Service recently held a class in the county and will do so again should enough people display interest in taking the course. Utility officials in South Carolina say electric service has been restored to most customers after a line of storms moved through the state. South Carolina Electric & Gas Company says about 1,000 customers were without service late Monday morning, most of the them in the Columbia area. Duke Energy says fewer than 1,000 customers are without service in the Upstate, most in Spartanburg County. A possible tornado damaged about a half-dozen houses and forced the closure of about four miles of Maybank Highway on Wadmalaw Island for a time Sunday just south of Charleston. The National Weather Service and local emergency officials say the damage was minor and no injuries were reported. The storms stranded a dozen boaters and campers in the Lowcountry who had to be rescued by state and local officials. The Associated Press and Citizen News contributed to this report. ©
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