Vance County News - WIZS

Henderson Man Arrested on Federal Drug Charges

February 26, 2016/by WIZS Staff

Henderson Police Department Press Release

On Thursday, on February 25, 2016, members of the Henderson Police Department Special Operations Unit, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, and the Raleigh Police Department arrested a Henderson man on federal drug charges.

Keith Antoine Thorpe, 39, 3263 Hwy 158 Business, Henderson was charged with one count of distribution and possession with the intent to distribute a quantity of heroin and distribution and possession with the intent to distribute a quantity of cocaine base(crack).

Thorpe was transferred into the custody of the United States Marshall Service pending a hearing in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. This case was investigated by the Henderson Police Department Special Operations Unit and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The investigation into weapon violations and drug trafficking currently is ongoing.

Authority: Chief Marcus Barrow

Granville Vance Tornado Path

February 26, 2016/by John C. Rose

Director of Emergency Operations for Henderson and Vance County Brian Short provided the picture below to WIZS News by email.

In his email, he wrote, “(Wednesday’s) tornadoes caused significant damage in the northern portion of Vance County. While we believe at this time that we had three separate tornadoes in total, I have attached some locational data showing four points that we feel strongly are tornado touchdowns in Vance County. This helps to define the path of the tornado that caused the damage in the northern part of the County.”

According to what Short is saying, there were apparently three separate tornadoes believed to have been in Vance County on Wednesday, while the picture shows the path of a single tornado which it is believed caused the damage in northern Vance County. The path pictured is of the tornado which caused so much damage in the Huntsboro community in Granville County before moving into Vance County and touching down as many as four more times.

4 Confirmed Tornado Touchdowns in Vance County

February 24, 2016/by John C. Rose

Director of Emergency Management for Henderson and Vance County told WIZS News, “We have at least four confirmed tornado touchdowns in Vance County.”

He said he thought it was all from the same tornado. “The weather service will have to confirm that from doppler imaging. They are also technically going to have to confirm that it’s tornadic damage, but I’ve seen enough to know that it is.”

Short said the weather service would be coming in tomorrow or the next day to make that determination.

There are no known deaths or injuries to report in Vance County.

Short said the four touchdowns caused significant damage. He said there were a few isolated power outages “in the Hicksboro, Williamsboro area, which is where most of the damage is.”

There are no roads closed at this time. Emergency crews cleared several downed trees really quickly, according to Short.

Based on our own observations at WIZS, these tornado touchdowns north of Henderson would have occurred right around 5:00 P.M. Wednesday. Additionally, there is an amateur video clip that has been shown several times on WTVD-TV that is supposedly of a tornado just north of Henderson, and if so, this would be in line with what Short is reporting. This stems from the first of three tornado warnings issued for Vance County on Wednesday.

The second and third tornado warnings for Vance County involved mostly areas south and east of the City of Henderson, down towards Bearpond, Kittrell and east towards Cokesbury. When asked if anything materialized from the warnings for the southern part of Vance County, Short said, “Not that I know of, but we had multiple people going in multiple directions, and I have not talked to all of them yet.”

In neighboring Granville County, near Huntsboro, which is not far from the Henderson-Oxford Airport, multiple structures were damaged. One house was completely destroyed, while adjacent houses received heavy damage. A local dairy farmer sustained heavy property damage, including two silos as well as equipment and other structure damage. WIZS News spoke directly with a person on the scene in Huntsboro. He reported the dairy farmer had not lost any of his cows and that he was observing the aftermath of the storm firsthand while speaking with us.