Updated

Three people are dead and 10 are injured following a tornado in North Carolina's coastal Brunswick County. 

The tornado hit just after midnight Tuesday in southeastern Brunswick County near Grissettown in the Ocean Ridge Plantation Community, destroying homes, downing powerlines that left thousands without electricity and snapping trees in half, news outlets reported.

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"It’s something like I have never seen before. A lot of destruction. It’s going to be a long recovery process," Brunswick County Sheriff John Ingram said at a press conference early Tuesday.

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Brunswick County Emergency Management said people were trapped in homes.

Ingram said searches for missing people were underway and will increase during the day. He's asked people to avoid the area while crews work to clear the streets and search for victims.

The Wilmington Fire Department tweeted that it would send teams to help find people missing after the tornado.

Some power lines were also downed. Brunswick Electric Membership Corporation said thousands of people lost electricity.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, said the state had sent help to the affected area.

"At least three deaths, a number of injuries and damage to dozens of homes caused by a fierce tornado in Brunswick County last night," Cooper wrote on Twitter. "I have spoken with Sheriff Ingram and County Commission Chair Thompson, and the state has sent help. Our prayers are with them all."

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A tornado in southwest Georgia also wreaked havoc this weak. On Monday, an "extremely dangerous" tornado ripped through multiple homes in Damascus, Ga.

storm report relayed to the National Weather Service by an emergency mananger noted there has been at least one injury as well as "significant" damage to a double-wide mobile home and damage to a single-family home.

The Associated Press and Fox News' Lucas Manfredi contributed to this report.