Severe thunderstorms brought heavy rains, flooding across Central NC Thursday afternoon

More clouds than sunshine are expected on Friday.

Expect scattered showers and storms to continue through the evening Thursday as a cold front approaches from the west. The storms will slack off overnight but a few could linger into the early morning hours.

Some areas will see scattered showers and storms throughout the evening on Friday, but none are expected to become severe.

The next chance for severe weather will be on Saturday which brings a risk of damaging winds.

The wet and unsettled pattern will continue through the weekend.

Much of the southeast is in a moderate to severe drought. However, the rain of the past few days has eliminated our rain deficit for this month.

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Severe weather fired up across central North Carolina on Thursday afternoon.

Warnings started firing off around 1:30 p.m. and continued to happen as the storms pushed through the area.

Those storms brought with them heavy rain, lightning, and reports of hail.

A trail of damage was left in its wake, including in Wilson County where a church was destroyed after lightning struck its steeple. Fire crews at the scene said the Springhill Presbyterian Church is a total loss after that lightning strike set the church ablaze.

The storms also knocked out power for thousands of people and caused flooding to some areas.

National Weather Service said it tracked more than 3,500 lightning flashes from 3-3:30 p.m. in central North Carolina.

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