EF2 Tornado Left 5.5 Mile Track In Greenville County, SC

A powerful tornado with winds reaching 115 mph cut a path from Montebello to East North Street on Saturday night, uprooting massive trees, tearing apart business facades and leaving thousands without power.

The National Weather Service confirmed the tornado — classified as a strong EF2 on a scale to EF5 — after an assessment Sunday afternoon.

The Botany Woods neighborhood, a community flush with aged oak trees, appeared to be ground zero, where as many as 5,000 people were without power in the concentrated area, but with very few outages or significant damage nearby.

No death or injury has been reported. Power outages had been reduced to 2,000 by Sunday morning.

Roads this morning were blocked off as crews try to repair downed power lines. The sound of chainsaws echoed through the area.