Weather: The Day it Rained Roof Tiles and Insulation

Story by Hal Goodtree.

Cary, NC – The big storm blew through at about four o’clock. I needed to go to the grocery store, so I ventured out as soon as the worst of it had passed.

The roads were deserted. A few branches were scattered about, and lots of insulation and roof tile. I wondered where it all came from.

The odd debris extended out of my neighborhood, up Davis Drive, and was evident in the Harris Teeter parking lot. I picked up a large piece and left it near the trash can.

I bought my groceries and went home. Turning into my block, I saw some of my neighbors standing in the street, looking up at a yellow pulp of insulation in the middle of the road and occasionally up at the sky.

Neighbor Larry told me that toward the end of the storm, he had seen a piece of roof tile fall past his window. He looked up and actually saw a trash bag falling from the sky.  Neighbor Dan had seen similar.

Miss Sue speculated that the debris falling from the sky had come from Holly Springs or Sanford, places where the tornado touched down. “Gotta go,” I said, eager to look after my own house and family.

But I thought about what Sue had said. Was it possible that a tornado had picked up roofs in Sanford, flung them into the sky, and that they subsequently rained down on Cary? I guess so.

Standing in my driveway, my next door neighbor Eleanor told me her friends on Twitter had reported debris falling out of the skies across Apex and southwestern Cary.

It’s now six o’clock. As I write this, the sun is back out and the birds are doing the tweeting.

But two hours ago, it was raining roof tile and insulation in Cary, N.C.