CHERRYVILLE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) – The Cherryville community in Gaston County continues to clean up after a State of Emergency was declared following severe weather.

Storm Fallout: Outages, trees down, schools closed

“Personally, I would say it’s the closest thing to Hugo that I have seen it, Cherryville Mayor HL Beam said on Wednesday. “There’s damage everywhere. It was not just in one single area. A lot of our neighborhoods have really been devastated.”

As of their last count about 55 structures have been damaged by the storm in a expect that number to continue to rise as they assess the damage.

The National Weather Service is calling this a supercell thunderstorm with peak wind estimated at 85 MPH.

Multiple Gaston County schools were closed on Wednesday due to the storm damage from Tuesday evening.

Over 3,000 customers in Gaston County and over 1,000 customers in Lincoln County are also without power. Several schools in Cherryville will be closed on Wednesday due to storm damage and residents have been asked to stay inside.