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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – It was a less-than-happy Christmas morning for hundreds of families in Northeast Florida who woke up without power after thunderstorms swept through the area on Thursday night, leaving a trail of fallen trees and power lines and damage to people’s property.
Neighbors took stock of their surroundings and retrieved the pieces early Friday, when utilities assessed the damage and worked to restore power to homes and businesses affected by power outages across Jacksonville and neighboring counties.
Some of the main damage was found in Nature’s Walk subdivision in the Mandarin neighborhood, where a tree crashed on the roof of a house. The homeowner, Rick Blyar, said he was indoors when the wind lifted, causing him to scramble for cover.
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“It sounded like a tornado,” he recalls. So I went to a bathtub. Then it seemed to die. I came out and the same time I came out my neighbors came out to find out what was going on and we saw that. “
By this Blyar meant the enormous tree trunk resting on its roof. He said the wind was so strong he never heard the collision. Fortunately for him, the damage was minimal as the uprooted tree came to rest on a support beam, which absorbed the blows of the blow.
His house was not the only victim. Not far from there, another tree fell on a camper, although no one was inside. Reports of damage scattered across the area made its way to the News4Jax newsroom as the storms lifted, including a video clip showing what looked like a transformer catching fire along Claire Lane.
Across town in the Dinsmore neighborhood, strong winds dismantled Deborah Dempsey’s back patio, knocked down a nearby fence and lifted the top of her neighbor’s chimney. Her home was one of at least three in the Waterbrook Falls subdivision with visible storm damage.
Storm damage in Dinsmore Ward.
Dempsey told News4Jax that she was preparing dinner for her family when all hell broke loose. She is grateful that no one was hurt.
“We heard a whistling noise,” she said. And after a while, glass and everything splashed and water came up and it tore everything out there. We didn’t know if it was over or what, because everything happened so quickly. “
Farther inland, residents of Columbia County also felt the fury of the storms. Jerry Norenberg was about to have dinner with his roommates in Lake City when their Christmas Eve dinner was interrupted by what sounded like a car driving into their house. It was not a car but rather a tree.
“I stepped out of the kitchen and before you know it, it sounded like a car was coming through the house,” Norenberg said. “It shook me and I turned back and I saw a tree sticking out through the house.”
Norenberg said he and his roommates had to leave immediately. They saved what they could, but made plans to stay with friends until they found out what to do next.
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