Updated at 6:15 a.m. ET
An early morning tornado ripped through coastal North Carolina Tuesday, killing three people, injuring 10 others, and causing damage to homes and leaving residents without power, according to emergency services personnel on scene.
The tornado touched down near Ocean Ridge Plantation, a beach community about 45 miles south of Wilmington, N.C., Edward Conrow, the emergency services director for Brunswick County, N.C. told NPR.