RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue says that at least four people have died in powerful spring storms that swept across the state, raising the death toll to 21.
Perdue confirmed deaths in four counties late Saturday night, but shouldn’t wouldn’t give an exact figure. The number of fatalities is expected to rise, though. Officials in the city of Raleigh alone have reported “multiple” deaths.
The storms have already killed 17 people in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi and Alabama.
But there were stories of survival. In North Carolina, the manager of a Lowe’s hardware store is being credited with saving more than 100 employees and customers when he ushered them to the back of the store. The front of the building was flattened.
In South Carolina, six people survived a church collapse.
