SALISBURY — Thousands were without power after a storm with strong winds hit Rowan County on Thursday afternoon, causing damage to power lines throughout the area.

The Duke Energy power outage map showed approximately 4,000 buildings that were without power at approximately 5:15 p.m., mostly in and around Salisbury. The website stated at approximately 5:45 p.m. that assessment was still underway in many of the places affected and estimated times of restoration were not provided. Power had been restored to approximately 1,000 buildings by 6 p.m.

The storm was the subject of a severe thunderstorm warning that the National Weather Service’s Greenville-Spartanburg office issued at 4:15 p.m. on Thursday afternoon that ran through 5:45 p.m. The warning advised that winds of up to 60 mph and penny-sized hail were possible.

“If on or near High Rock Lake, get away from the water and move indoors or inside a vehicle. Remember, lightning can strike out to 15 miles from the parent thunderstorm. If you can hear thunder, you are close enough to be struck by lightning. Move to safe shelter now! Do not be caught on the water in a thunderstorm,” stated the warning.

The warning stated that a storm was located at approximately 5:30 p.m. seven miles southeast of High Rock Lake and moving east at approximately 25 mph.

The winds damaged power lines and downed trees throughout the area. Traffic lights in the area of downtown Salisbury and the intersection of Mooresville and Lincolnton roads were out because of the outages. North Carolina law requires that drivers treat a signal that is not illuminated as if it were an all-way stop sign.

Multiple trees were reported downed throughout the county, including ones in Salisbury on Mooresville Road near the Lincolnton Road intersection and one on East Innes Street near the Main Street intersection.

The town of Landis also advised on its Facebook page that it was aware of outages in the town and was working to restore power at approximately 5 p.m.