An EF-3 tornado tore through the Pfizer Rocky Mount facility in North Carolina.

Dashcam Footage Captures Moment EF-3 Tornado Rips Through North Carolina Pfizer Facility

An EF-3 tornado tore through the Pfizer Rocky Mount facility in North Carolina on July 19, according to both National Weather Service (NWS) reports and a Pfizer press release. Marvin Hicks’s dash camera captured the moment the tornado ripped through the parking lot, and told Storyful he had just had the dashcam installed that morning. According to Pfizer’s press release, “All 3,200 local Pfizer colleagues” reporting to the manufactoring site were safe and accounted for “after excellent implementation of the site’s long-standing evacuation plan.” The site is currently closed and, “Crews are working around-the-clock to restore power, assess the structural integrity of the building and move finished medicines to nearby sites for storage,” the statement said. “After an initial assessment, there does not appear to be any major damage to the medicine production areas,” the statement continued. The statement said most of the damage to the Rocky Mount facility, which is a “key producer for sterile injectables,” was to the warehouse facility, “which stores raw materials, packaging supplies, and finished medicines awaiting release by quality assurance.” According to the statement, the pharmaceutical company is “committed to rapidly restoring full function to the site, which plays a critical role in the U.S. healthcare system,” and is working to move product to nearby sites for storage, and “identify sources to replace damaged raw materials and supplies.” The company is also “exploring alternative manufacturing locations for production” across the US and internationally “across the company’s partner network,” the statement said. Credit: Marvin Hicks via Storyful