"We've had three storms come through, so I've run across a lot of scared customers," said Shaquan Hill, a clerk at the store. "It's not real safe for them to be out there right now."
Hill was telling nervous customers to stay put inside the store as the third storm began rolling through Gastonia just before 7 p.m., although not everyone was heeding her warnings.
"A lot of people just feel like they need to get where they're headed," she said.
A line of strong storms cut through the county Saturday afternoon. The National Weather Service in Greenville, S.C., started issuing storm watches early in the day. The watches soon became warnings, and the weather agency issued a brief tornado warning that lasted until 5 p.m. for Rutherford, Lincoln, Cleveland and Gaston counties.
Most of the area stayed under a severe storm weather watch until early Sunday.
Gaston County Communications heard reports of standing water in roadways and hail but no damages or accidents related to the storms
WSOC Eyewitness News meteorologist John Ahrens said the rain and wind will die down overnight and will give way to near-record-breaking temperatures Sunday afternoon.
Sunday's forecast calls for high temperatures to reach 86 degrees under partly cloudy skies.
Saturday's storms came just days after an overnight storm Tuesday that knocked out power to thousands in Gaston County for up to four days and hundreds of trees.
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