Tornado Heavily Damages Pfizer Pharma Plant in North Carolina

Debris is scattered around the Pfizer facility, n Rocky Mount, N.C., after damage from severe weather, on July 19, 2023. Travis Long/The News & Observer via AP

A tornado heavily damaged a large Pfizer pharmaceutical plant in North Carolina on Wednesday, ripping parts of its roofs and scattering large quantities of medicine stored at the factory.

“I’ve got reports of 50,000 pallets of medicine that are strewn across the facility and damaged through the rain and the wind,” Nash County Sheriff Keith Stone said of the large Pfizer manufacturing complex in Rocky Mount, a city in Edgecombe and Nash counties. He noted he hasn’t been able to confirm the extent of the damage.

The tornado had hit the Rocky Mount area around 12:30 p.m, according to Nash County officials.

Besides damaging the Pfizer plant, several residential homes and roadways were also damaged, noted the Nash County Sheriff’s Office.

The tornado also downed trees and power lines along some highways, which forced officials to temporarily shut down a stretch of Interstate 95 in both directions in North Carolina, resulting in miles of congestion.

Pfizer confirmed to multiple outlets that a tornado damaged the facility, adding that it had no reports of serious injuries. It said that the plant employees followed safety procedures and evacuated, and all “are safe and accounted for.”

“Our thoughts are with our colleagues, our patients and the community as we rebuild from this weather incident,” the Pfizer statement read.

The statement noted the company is assessing the situation to figure out how production will be impacted. Pfizer is one of the largest employers in the county.

The damage to the plant was consistent with a severe EF3 tornado, with wind speeds up to 150 mph (240 kph), the National Weather Service said on Twitter.

The Pfizer plant is damaged after severe weather passed the area in Rocky Mount, N.C., on July 19, 2023. WTVD via AP

Pfizer’s Rocky Mount facility is “one of the largest sterile injectable facilities in the world,” according to the Pfizer website, with some 25 percent of all sterile injectables used in hospitals across the United States being produced there.

The facility has more than 1.4 million square feet of manufacturing space, and creates various products, including anesthesia and therapeutics.

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.”

A tornado watch was in effect for nine North Carolina counties until 7 p.m. EST, the National Weather Service noted.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.