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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 electricity after storms swept the area Thursday night, leaving behind a trail of fallen trees and power lines and damage to people’s property.
Neighbors took stock of their surroundings and collected the pieces early Friday, while utility teams assessed the damage and worked to restore power to homes and businesses affected by disruptions scattered across Jacksonville and its neighboring counties.
Some of the most significant damage could be found in the Nature’s Walk subdivision, in the Mandarin neighborhood, where a tree fell on the roof of a house. The owner of the house, Rick Blyar, said he was inside when the winds rose, sending him to seek cover.
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“It looked like a tornado,” he recalled. “So I went to a bathtub. Then he seemed to run out. I went out and at the same time as I went out, my neighbors came out to find out what was going on and we saw it ”.
By this, Blyar meant the massif of the tree trunk resting on its roof. He said the winds were so strong he never heard the collision. Fortunately for him, there was minimal damage because the uprooted tree was placed on a support beam, which absorbed the weight of the impact.
Her home was not the only victim. Not far away, another tree fell on an RV, even though no one was inside. Reports of damage scattered around the area leaked to the News4Jax editorial office as the storms faded, including a video clip showing what looked like a transformer that was on fire along Claire Lane.
Across town from the Dinsmore neighborhood, strong winds dismantled Deborah Dempsey’s backyard, knocked down a nearby fence, and lifted the top of her neighbor’s chimney. His home was one of at least three in the Waterbrook Falls subdivision with visible storm damage.
Storm damage in the Dinsmore neighborhood.
Dempsey told News4Jax that he was preparing dinner for his family when hell broke loose. She is grateful that no one was injured.
“We heard that whistle,” he said. “And after a while, the glass and everything splashed and the water came out here and ripped everything there. We didn’t know if it was over or what, because it all happened so fast. “
Further inland, Columbia County residents also felt the wrath of the storms. Jerry Norenberg was about to sit down to eat with his roommates in Lake City when Christmas Eve dinner was interrupted by what looked like a plowing vehicle in his home. It was not a car, but rather a tree.
“I took a step out of the kitchen and the next you know it looked like a car passed by the house,” Norenberg said. “He shook me and I turned around and noticed we had a tree penetrating 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 they would do next.
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