The natural phenomenon destroyed the facilities of the Pfizer plant in North Carolina. They warn there could be “long-term” drug shortages.
A tornado caused serious damage Wednesday to a major Pfizer plant in North Carolina, United States. The company confirmed that the huge manufacturing complex suffered severe structural consequences when the natural phenomenon made landfall near Rocky Mount shortly after noon.
The company also reported that all employees were evacuated and that had no reports of serious injuries on his staff after the passage of the tornado that detached part of the roofs of the enormous buildings.
I have reports of 50,000 pallets of medicines that are scattered throughout the facility and were damaged by rain and wind,” Nash County Sheriff Keith Stone said.
In addition to being used as storage, the plant produces anesthesia and other drugs, which account for almost 25% of all injectable drugs sterile supplies used in US hospitals, Pfizer said on its website.
Erin Fox, senior director of pharmaceuticals at the University of Utah Medical Center, warned that the harm “will surely create shortages in the long run while Pfizer rebuilds or works to move production to other sites.”
The National Weather Service tweeted that the damage matched an EF3 tornado, with winds of up to 240 kilometers per hour (150 miles per hour).
13 people injured by tornado in Nash
A preliminary report from neighboring Nash County noted that 13 people were injured and 89 structures were damaged, according to a WRAL-TV report.
Three residences owned by Brian Varnell and his family in the nearby Dortches area were damaged. Varnell told the network that he is thankful everyone is alive. Her sister and her children hid in the laundry room of her house.
“They were where they needed to be inside the house and everything went well,” Varnell said near a residence that lost its exterior walls and a good part of the roof.
In nearby Edgecombe, meanwhile, three people were injured, two seriously.
With information from AP.
IS
