Atlanta area resident Mavora Spruill is counting her blessings.
That's because storms knocked a tree into her bed Thursday evening. She could have been killed if she had been taking her daily nap in her upstairs bedroom.
"Normally when I get off work around 6 o'clock especially when it’s raining, I take a nap. And thank God I wasn’t there yesterday," said Spruill.
These storms are part of the same system that brought deadly tornadoes to Joplin, Missouri earlier this week.
Two other Atlanta women were killed when the storms caused a tree to fall on their convertible - just as they were driving. "When the tree impacted the car, the person driving the car naturally, foot hit the accelerator and they ran into a mailbox on the side," said Chief Joel Baker of the Atlanta Fire Department.
The storms in the Deep South triggered a tornado warning in Charlotte, North Carolina, which forced city officials there to shut down a street festival. Fortunately, there were no reports of injuries.
In Virginia, just south of Roanoke, the Thursday night storms uprooted trees and left thousands without power.
One resident described the moment the storms hit. “The TV was the first thing to go off, and then the power went off, and the wind - just terrible. I felt a vibration,” said Daniel Dougherty.
The storms capped off a traumatic week for people from the Midwest to the East Coast.
