- $37M drainage improvement project designed to combat flooding in NE Harris County
- Temporary bridges in Avery County at risk due to severe weather threat
- FEMA extends aid as Hurricane Helene recovery efforts surpass $360M
- Nearly every North Carolina wildfire caused by people, researchers say
- Weather IQ: How do wildfires ignite?
"I never seen anything like that' Contractor at Pfizer witnesses EF-3 Tornado
Marvin Hicks, who works as a contractor at the Pfizer plant in Rocky Mount, witnessed the EF-3 tornado that hit that plant on Wednesday.
Hicks, who has worked at the plant for nine years, was walking back to the shop when he received a WRAL weather alert on his phone. He and his coworkers gathered in the hallway; he says that’s when the tornado hit.
“The wind was strong and the power went out,” Hicks said. “We just sat there in the building as the tornado passed.”
Afterward, Hicks went outside and saw the damage. He said he had never experienced anything like it before, not even Hurricane Fran.
Hicks said he felt safe inside the plant as the storm passed, but he was disappointed that he didn’t receive any warnings from Pfizer about the tornado.
“There was never a plant-wide alarm,” he said. “I was shocked and disappointed about that.”
Hicks said he received the weather alert through his phone and later discovered video footage of the tornado from his dash cam.
The plant is one of Nash County’s largest employers, employing more than 3,200 people.
Nash County Sheriff Keith Stone told WRAL News that 50,000 pallets of medicine were destroyed when the tornado hit Pfizer. According to Pfizer’s website, this facility produces nearly 25% of Pfizer’s sterile injectables for U.S. hospitals.
• Credits
Copyright 2023 by Capitol Broadcasting Company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.