A tornado heavily damaged a major Pfizer pharmaceutical plant in North Carolina on Wednesday. Pfizer confirmed that the large manufacturing complex was damaged by a twister that touched down shortly after midday near Rocky Mount, but said in an email that it had no reports of serious injuries. The company stated that all employees were safely evacuated and accounted for, reported The Associated Press. Watch:
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— Sophia Dahl (@sophiadahl1) July 20, 2023
Pfizer Pharmaceutical Plant In North Carolina Has Been Destroyed By a Tornado 🌪️
Some are saying that God has spoken‼️🙏👇 pic.twitter.com/Cf5LXxiDNE
Parts of roofs were ripped open atop its massive buildings. The Pfizer plant stores large quantities of medicine that were tossed about, said Nash County Sheriff Keith Stone. “I’ve got reports of 50,000 pallets of medicine that are strewn across the facility and damaged through the rain and the wind,” Stone said, according to AP. The plant produces anesthesia and other drugs as well as nearly 25 per cent of all sterile injectable medications used in US hospitals, Pfizer said on its website. Erin Fox, senior pharmacy director at University of Utah Health, said the damage “will likely lead to long-term shortages while Pfizer works to either move production to other sites or rebuilds.” Elsewhere in the US, an onslaught of searing temperatures and rising floodwaters continued, with Phoenix breaking an all-time temperature record and rescuers pulling people from rain-swamped homes and vehicles in Kentucky. Forecasters said little relief appears in sight from the heat and storms. For example, Miami has endured a heat index of 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 degrees Celsius) or more for weeks, with temperatures expected to rise this weekend. With inputs from agencies