Severe storms with hail, heavy rain and winds up to 60 mph barreled through the Charlotte region Friday and left 21,000 Duke Energy customers without power.
At least 17,000 customers in Charlotte, 3,000 in Gaston County and 1,000 in Fort Mill had no electricity at 4 p.m., the Duke Energy outages map showed. Repairs and damage assessments were underway.
A tornado warning was issued for Hickory, Newton, and Conover in Catawba County until 7:30 p.m., after radar indicated a possible tornado and pea-sized hail, according to the National Weather Service…