Tornado Staging Area, November 28, 1988

Gary Knight / CCBI Photograph

A tornado plowed through northwest Raleigh on November 28, 1988. The 1:00 a.m. storm struck with virtually no warning, killing two and injuring 102 others. The Townridge Square Shopping Center on Highway 70 served as command post and staging area for the hundreds of responding emergency workers. The shopping center was also the site of a flattened K-Mart store, where an employee was trapped under debris for more than two hours.