Were back to 51 by 6 p. M. , cool and calmer for us for the evening drive home. More on your forecast and the weekend ahead in just a few minutes but lets check in with traffic this morning. This is i440 and lake boone trail. Weve been checking in throughout the morning and steadily seeing more cars. Now, just into the news room we do have a closure this is southern portions of wncn, this had is u. S. 1. This closure is actually on penny road there are power lines down between 1010 road and killed air farm road. So certainly try to avoid this area. Again power lines down. Well work to get more information for you. Right now im going to send it back. Breaking news, just 30 minutes ago wayne county officials announced two schools will operate on a threehour delay today. And that list includes spring the reason, of course, a power outage caused by yesterdays storms. Thats right. Well, right now crews throughout the state work to go restore power to thousands of people. We just checked the Duke Energy Outage map and in wake county more than 350 households without power, in Granville County more than 230 homes also without power. Well, right now a super day of cleaning up will greet many people in our viewing area after Severe Weather hit yesterday. Yeah, its difficult to look at some of these images. The system brought possible tornados, one of the hardest hit areas was in oxford. And emma, we saw some of that damage earlier but youve talked to some folks and what are you hearing from them . Of clean up ahead of them at least six families have no home right now. Theyre going to have to spend today kind of assessing the damage and figuring out where theyre going to go from here. This is where some of the worst of the storm hit. You can see just a line of dama coming through here. You can see the roof of this house is completely gone over here. Weve got the tops of the trees missing, you can see how the storm cloud came over here to the end. They put a tree down on the top of this house and we talked with the family that lives in this house down here. One man says his 81year old mother was at home and called him on the phone and was very frightened. He told her to get into the bathroom and thats where she rode out the storm are and was in the bathroom when the tree fell on the house. All the way here i could see how bad the damage was so when i got about a half a mile from here i parked my truck and ran car that got blowed off the road. But she said she heard a loud noise and it was real fast and it was gone. If you can believe it, this house might have faired the best out of all the houses on the street despite the tree at that time now in their living room and a bunch of roof is off, the siding is off. The National Weather service, they are going to be out here later this morning to confirm that an actual tornado did touch down they cant call it a tornado until they come out and investigate. We will follow that and bring you more about their visit coming up in our next half hour. Thanks so much for your coverage there. The Granville County sheriff says a possible tornado moved west from granville east to vance county. A home there suffered significant damage. These some of the pictures. Crystal west says her husbands family has owned a home there hold a lot of value. West told us about what it was like when she and her family took cover as that storm came through. Smoke just came up and you could see the tin flying in circles and siding from other are houses, insulation from other homes, and it was just circling all the way around us. None of her family tow was injured last night. Well, that storm made quite an impact as it came through wayne county as well. Cameras caught the storm passing through the of the strong winds ripped off a roof of a mobile home there. Four people were home at the time. A woman and her three daughters. Luckily no one was injured. The winds combined with heavy rain and hail caused damage to other homes and brought down trees and power lines. I physically watched the roof rip off the trailer home across the street come flying into my fence and hanging dangling the power line at that point i took cover. The storm knocked out power for most homes in that area but power has since been restored. And we cant say to people enough as you get out and about today be careful of trees in the road. If they are downed power lines stay clear of those as well as well the duke Basketball Team tweeted out this photo. And it looks like they were in good spirits from some of the smiles. They along with duke employees took cover. This is from a tunnel under the stadium. More images from durham as well. Right now were taking a look on dukes campus, this was tweeted as soon as the storm passed around 5 00 yesterday evening. Now, fortunately no reports of any injury and the those students camps out for the unc came were able to take cover. In chapel hill sirens sounded with a Tornado Warning there, students took cover in the basement of the undergraduate during any event you can always send us your photos and videos wed love to show case those. Now, fortunately there were no serious injures reported from this storm system here in North Carolina. But in virginia it was a different story. At least three people dead. The twister hit in waverly. A child and two men died when a tornado destroyed a mobile home. Several roads still closed there. Now, the clean up efforts all begin. Our weather coverage continues this morning. We unsafe . Yeah, really tense moments while covering storm damage our very own Steve Sbraccia and dan west became part of the story. Plus when it cops to liking have m at Devry Universitys college of business, were looking for the gogetters. So if you want to learn whats been businessworld tested today, and make an impact tomorrow, youre our kind of different. Devry universitys college of business. This a live picture from our crew in Granville County near oxford where theyre set to survey damage to see if in fact it was a tornado, and also if they determine task tornado they survey how strong they estimate the winds to be, how long it was on the ground and how wide the storm could have been. So some Important Information coming out of Granville County later today and sending our thoughts to the families living in these homes as well. I have some good news sunshine returns today. 43 right now, were back to 45 at 7 a. M. , 47 at 8 00, 58 by 9 a. M. This morning. Plenty of sunshine throughout the day and you can see that a quiet morning for us, theres snow up to our north and west and across pennsylvania theyre seeing some steady rain today. 43 in raleigh, 43 in durham, our high later today 56 and still on the breezy side. More in your complete forecast in just a little bit. Are you saying are you saying. Well, the time is now exactly lets see, i cant see a clock, there it is, 5 42. Wncn sent crews throughout our area to cover the aftermath of the Severe Weather that hit during the coverage one of our reporters and photoer teams ended up right in the center of the storm. We unsafe . Yeah, youre unsafe. Dan, get off the road right now. Dan pull over the car. vo new tidy cats lightweight 4in1 fights mess right. Attacks three strong litter box odors, plus locks clumps tight. And now its light. Every home, every cat. The National Weather service will be very busy today trying to determine if tornadoes touched down in our viewing area, 911 calls indicated the storm moved from west to east. So much damage. Difficult to look at this morning. Now, from orange county, to much of our viewing area was under tornado watches or warnings as heavy rain and gusting winds ripped right through the area. Four people now dead after a tornado struck virginia. It was part of the same storm system that moved up the east coast. The count down has gun and preparations are underway for hollywoods biggest night. The Academy Awards scheduled to take place this sunday night. The red carpet was rolled out a lot of people very excited and paying a whole lot of attention to whats going to happen there. All right. The right now a man in kentucky is recovering after a battery blew up in his pocket. It caught fire. Keep an eye on the guy in the right of your screen. He says an e cigarette battery exploded in his pocket while he was at the convenient store. The clerk said he couldnt quite figure out what happened. What was that . You have a bomb in your pocket, i was like that. You got bomb in your pocket . I was totally shocked and hands were over my head. People came to the rescue trying to stomp out the flames and use a fire extinguisher and got the job done. The man says he has Second Degree burns on his leg. And earlier this month a Johnson County couple claimed a similar accident happened to them involving an e cigarette. Investigators say the devices inside the mans pocket. Doctors treated him for second and third degree burns. His fiance was also burned. Investigators believe the battery caught fire after coming into contact with loose change inside the mans pocket. Breaking news overnight fayetteville investigators trying to figure figure out what started a house fire as crews responded to a home around 10 15 last night. They found smoke from the second story and believe the fire started in the kitchen and spread up the wall. Luckily no one was home when that fire started. Also new this morning a line of strong storms caused flooding in the washington, d. C. Area. It left thousands of people without power and you brought strong winds and hail. A parking garage flooded with water reaching the curbs. All three of the regions major airports all reported delays. Do we need to get out of the automobile . We unsafe . News tracker was front and center in the storm. Wncns she was sbraccia was on the air when two of our meteorologists told him to get out of the way and seek shelter immediately. Youve got to see what happened next. We just saw some intense lightning and the rain is starting to get really heavy right now. We were on live as our progressed was tracked and the indicated tornado when they sounded the alert. Guys, i think he needs to take cover because hes get hes right in the heart of it. Do we need to get out of the automobile . Are we unsafe . Yeah, take shelter. Dan get off the road right now. If we need to we will go into somebodys house. Ill bang on the door. Were going to go to this house right here. Theyve got a front porch. All right lets get out of here. As we abandoned the news trackers are you with us . Yes, i am, i am watching tv inside this home. When you said it was time to get out of the car we did. We left the car running that is a live picture right now of park side drive, with me right now is the family, and when it started to move through he didnt realize what was happening. Just a lot of wind and rain, and its but, you know, generally speaking you know, nothing indicated that a tornado was close by. After it was over we said our thanks to the kind family. And im the photographer dan west. And were all here and this is the home where we took shelter. And then it was back on the road again. Only you, steve, but im so this morning. So lets go ahead and check in with our forecast for today. Thankfully a quieter day. I will not say calmer because were still looking at some strong wind gusts but this is a live picture from shaw the university in downtown raleigh and look at it. You can clearly make out every single building in downtown. A clear indicate theyre fog is not a factor in this mornings commute. No rain around our area. As a matter of fact that system that brought us that weather now moving up towards the new england area, the rain extending from new england back through central portions of pennsylvania and changing to snow around southern portions of ohio and west virginia. Now, i mentioned were still on the breezy side. The latest gusts 28 Miles Per Hour in fayetteville, 29 Miles Per Hour in henderson and in rocky mount, and then wind gusts in the upper teens around raleigh, sanford and goldsboro this morning. To make note the wind advisory that was in effect yesterday got extended throughout the overnight and now is extended until 2 00 this afternoon. Gusts could be as strong as 45 Miles Per Hour this afternoon. So again, breezy throughout the day, 47 at 8 a. M. This morning youre likely hearing either tree branchs around outside or the howling winds 50 at 10 a. M. , 53 at noon. Well climb to 56 for an afternoon high. So far from the 70s we reached yesterday but overall i think youll notice that today is going to be a much more pleasant day for us. So plenty of sunshine throughout the day, just some clouds from time to time. Nothing that will negatively impact your forecast. All of the dry weather sticks around this afternoon and into the evening and overnight as we head into friday another pleasant day for us, and i do believe that friday is overall going to be a calmer, those winds should weaken considerably. 42 in siler city, pinehurst and raeford, 45 in fayetteville. Getting to todays forecast, high today of 56 in raleigh, 55 in durham, near 60 in fayetteville. Overall those temperatures not far from where we should actually be for this time of year of tonight were going to drop to near 32 degrees. So its going to be a cold start to our friday. Friday even into the start of the weekend going to be quite chilly as well. 51 on friday, 51 on set saturday but look at sunday. That looks so nice 60 degrees our afternoon high to wrap up the weekend. It gets warmer heading into early next week 64 on monday. Next chance for rain sneaks into Central North Carolina on our wednesday of next week. So well get straight to your traffic conditions. We do have do you understand power lines on penny road in the apex area, its closed from 1010 so if this along your morning commute certainly change your plans as youre getting ready to head out the door this morning. Stay with us here on well ha today in texas president ial hopefuls set to face off for the 10th time. Marco rubio and ted cruz locked in a battle for second place. Joining them at the cnn moderate debate will be john kasich and dr. Ben carson. Well this morning the u. S. Department of labor is set to release their weekly jobless claims. Last weeks report saw the number for unemployment dropped the total to 27 thousand it marked the lowest number of people seeking jobless benefits since november. It indicates a healthy job market and indicate recent worries about the stock market have not caused u. S. Business to say cut jobs. Theres been a growth in customer spending and manufacturing indicating a growing economy. Well, it is certainly an exciting time for us here on wncn. On monday as you may have heard we will officially be your new home for cbs news and programming were going to be called cbs North Carolina and one of the new shows youll see the Big Bang Theory. The solely challenged duo, and you can catch it all starting next thursday at 8 p. M. And also the hit show miller. Its about crime solving. I like that show. Heres a full line up of what you can expect to see on cbs prime Time Starting with the Big Bang Theory at 8 00. And that will be followed by life in pieces at 8 30 and the comedy mom and followed by elementary and thats at 10 00 and then North Carolina news covering all your local news and weather. Thats at 11 p. M. Wave full line up of all the program and answers to any questions that you may have in a special section of wncn. Com just look for the banner on the home page. Wncn becomes cbs North Carolina on monday february be 29th. Right now you can be a lot are more expressive on facebook. Weve been waiting for this one. The site just released reactions to all the users by you can now access five additional emojis to express themselves, you can pick from like, love, human more anger, wow and sad. Last year officials decided the site needed more ways for users to interact. We totally agree how many keep i right now on wncn powerful storms ripped right through parts of our area yesterday. Were going to take a look at the hardest hit areas ahead of todays clean up efforts. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for being us. Im russ bowen. Russ welcome, and good morning to you good morning its great to be here. First were going to get to this forecast and what you can expect to see today. I grew up in this area and i dont remember these kind of storms this time of year. Yeah, we typically dont see them this time of year and were going continue to see some strong winds. So wind advisory in effect until 2 00 this afternoon, gusts could be as strong as 45 Miles Per Hour. So lets check in where they are right now. This is the latest reported wind gust 25 Miles Per Hour in fayetteville, 26 Miles Per Hour in rocky mount around south hill and henderson 20 to 23 Miles Per Hour this morning. Now, the good news on our radar were just seeing a little bit of cloud cover, no rain, no snow, all is clear for us as we start off this thursday. So here we are your fast forecast or today well start off right around 45, partly cloudy skies 53 at lunchtime, again gusts could be as strong as 45 Miles Per Hour throughout the day. High of 56. Now, normal