08/11/2026
📸 Send Us Your Damage Reports and Photos — Another Round Possible Tonight
Tuesday, August 11, 2026 — 7:15 PM
HICKORY, N.C. — Catawba Valley News & Weather is collecting storm damage reports and photos from across all seven counties after severe storms tracked through the region Tuesday afternoon and evening. Verified reports and photos are forwarded to the National Weather Service in Greenville-Spartanburg for their post-storm analysis.
WHAT TO SEND
The community or nearest crossroads. We do not need your exact home address, but an approximate location is a must.
Roughly what time it happened.
What you saw, whether that is downed trees, downed power lines, hail size, flooding, or roof and structure damage.
Just add it to the comments below 👇
WHY WE DO THIS
Radar shows what a storm was capable of doing. Ground reports show what it actually did, and that is what the National Weather Service uses to confirm wind speeds, hail sizes and damage paths. A photo from your yard can end up in the official record.
A SAFETY NOTE FIRST
Do not go near a downed power line to take a picture, and do not stop on an active roadway to shoot one. Treat every line as energized.
DO NOT PUT YOUR GUARD DOWN TONIGHT
The storms that hit this afternoon are out of here for now, but tonight is not over.
A long line of storms that has been producing severe thunderstorm warnings, tornado warnings and widespread wind gusts over 60 mph all day is still headed our direction. It has left damage reports stretching from the Chicago area east through Indiana and Ohio, and it is working through Kentucky and West Virginia now. Our current thinking brings it into the area somewhere in the 10 PM to midnight window.
There is a reasonable chance it loses some punch overnight as it runs out of daytime heating and fights the mountains. That is the common outcome. It is not a guarantee, and this line has held together longer than most.
Charge your phone before you go to bed. Make sure your weather alerts are turned on and turned up loud enough to wake you. A warning you sleep through does you no good.
WHAT CAME THROUGH TODAY
Caldwell County took the first hit. A trained spotter measured half dollar size hail, an inch and a quarter across, on Blowing Rock Road southwest of Patterson at 2:40 PM. At the same moment, Caldwell County Emergency Management reported numerous trees down and a couple of houses struck by falling trees on Setzers Creek Road and Warrior Road. Ten minutes later, a spotter reported quarter size hail and large limbs down on Indian Hills Drive.
McDowell County was next. At 3:55 PM, the assistant 911 director reported trees and power lines down on Benfields Landing Road east-northeast of Nebo. Between 4:43 and 5:12 PM, emergency management reported a tree down on a road northwest of Marion, a tree on a house just east of Marion, and multiple trees down on a road northwest of Glenwood. One inch hail was measured in Marion at 4:50 PM and three miles north of Glenwood at 4:58 PM.
Wilkes County took both wind and water. Between 4:08 and 4:10 PM, callers and 911 reported a tree blocking Camp Joe Harris Road, multiple trees and power lines down on West D Street and Boone Trail, and a large tree blocking Boone Trail near Cricket. At 4:55 PM, a photo showed several inches of water running down B Street near Chestnut Street in North Wilkesboro. A Flash Flood Warning for central Wilkes County remains in effect until 10:45 PM, with one to two inches already down and one to two more possible.
Northern Iredell County saw the tightest cluster of the day. Fire and rescue crews reported trees down in five separate spots in 31 minutes, southwest and northwest of Union Grove, north of Turnersburg, and in and west of Harmony, between 4:44 and 5:15 PM.
The National Weather Service offices in Greenville-Spartanburg and Blacksburg issued 25 alerts across the region Tuesday, 11 severe thunderstorm warnings, 13 special weather statements and one flash flood warning. The last severe thunderstorm warning of the round covered Hickory, Newton, Statesville, Lincolnton and Mooresville and expired at 6:30 PM.
WHERE WE HAVE NOTHING YET
We have not received a single damage report out of Burke, Catawba, Alexander or Lincoln County today, and all four spent part of the afternoon under warnings. That does not mean nothing happened. It means nobody has told us yet.
That is exactly what this post is for.
Share this so neighbors across Catawba, Burke, Caldwell, Alexander, Iredell, Lincoln and McDowell counties see it, and follow CVNW tonight in case that overnight line holds together.
