Community Corner
Storm Tears Through Woodbury, Rips Hole in Family’s Roof
A lightning strike in the Stonemill Farms neighborhood was one of several issues caused by the storm. Got photos? Add them here!
Lightning tore a hole in the roof of a home in Woodbury’s Stonemill Farms neighborhood early Tuesday morning, one of several incidents reported as a result of the major storm that rolled through the metro area.
No fire resulted from the strike, but it did send Tim Andrews reeling as he was looking for a pet cat while the rest of his family was huddled beneath a set of stairs in the basement.
“It was pretty intense,” Andrews told Patch. “Talk about getting your adrenaline going… I left the cat, of course.”
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The lightning strike was among 18 calls to the between 3:30 a.m. and noon Tuesday, said Cmdr. John Wallgren. (A handful of those calls were medical in nature, he said.) There was only one actual fire, which started after a branch broke off a tree and was lying on a power line at the 1100 block of Cedarwood Road.
Tuesday morning, and there were reports of trees down across the city. Stoplights at some intersections were flashing red today, as well. (Check out the city's warning about .)
Find out what's happening in Woodburywith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Back at Stonemill Farms, Andrews said screens were torn from his home, exterior lights were broken, a pillow from a patio set was strewn more than 100 feet from the home and electronics were damaged.
“The wind was blowing so hard that we couldn’t even hear the sirens,” Andrews said. “It was crazy.”
The lightning hit at about 4:30 a.m., he said.
“It put me right to the ground,” said Andrews, who was in an upstairs bathroom at the time of the lightning strike. “My head was ringing.”
The straight-line winds sounded like a tornado, he said, and his wife, JoDee Gamst, told him she could feel the lightning hit in the basement.
A neighbor who has lived in the area for 11 years said it was only the second time she had gone into her basement during a storm, Andrews said.
At about 1 p.m. Tuesday, he was waiting for crews to return with materials to fix the roof. Andrews lauded Weathersafe Exteriors for its quick response time—especially considering more rain is on the way to Woodbury.
“I’ve got to get that hole fixed,” Andrews said.
If you have photos from the storm, add them here or email them to kris.janisch@patch.com.
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