Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2008

Students scramble as twister hits Clemson + video

CLEMSON — A tornado spawned from the remnants of Tropical Storm Fay touched down Tuesday afternoon in Clemson, sending students scrambling for cover.

Trees and power lines were knocked down and several homes near campus were damaged, but no injuries were reported, authorities said.

A spotter reported the tornado in Clemson at 2:56 p.m., about 15 minutes after a tornado warning was issued, according to the National Weather Service.

The worst of the damage happened near Clemson University’s football stadium and not far from the downtown area, Pickens County emergency management director Don Evett said.

“It’s been raining all afternoon and the warnings were out for a while, so word had gotten out about the storms,” Evett said.

The storm also knocked some trees on top of cars on Clemson’s campus, university spokeswoman Robin Denny said.

The long warning time from the weather service allowed officials to sound emergency sirens on campus and send out urgent e-mails and text messages to students and faculty, Denny said.

The western half of South Carolina was under a tornado watch for much of Tuesday. Multiple warnings were issued as bands of storms from the remnants of Tropical Storm Fay moved across the state. The storms were expected to continue through today.

Fay’s remnants also were bringing heavy rain. Flash flood warnings were issued, and up to 5 inches of rain had fallen in Lancaster County, authorities said.

Nearly 2 inches fell Monday at the Columbia airport, with almost 1½ inches falling in just over 30 minutes, according to the weather service.