Storms knock down trees, power lines; leave thousands in the dark

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Several neighborhoods felt the punch after powerful storms pounded the Carolinas Sunday.

The weather knocked out power, dumped blinding rain and blew wind gusts strong enough to snap pine trees like pencils.

Rock Hill took the brunt of the damage.

Multiple chunks of a tree either punctured a home on East White Street or are scattered across the yard.

[IMAGES: Trees, power lines down; local flooding]

Some of the focus has already shifted to the aftermath. Storage units got tossed around and homes were crushed.

The Rock Hill Fire Department said it had 30 service calls, mostly downed trees and power lines, but no serious injuries.

In Rock Hill, roads were blocked by downed trees at Cedar Street and Wilson Street; Wilson Street and Oakland Avenue; and Dave Lyle Boulevard and Quantz Street.

Rock Hill joined a growing list of several areas that really took a beating from Sunday’s storm.

“It sounded really bad,” said Micheal Funderburke, who lives in south Charlotte.

Funderburke said he couldn't get to his home because of the damage.

“She's sitting there with the power out and three panicked dogs and I can't get in,” he said.

The storm dropped multiple power lines in his south Charlotte neighborhood.

Power lines were down even a few minutes away.

“Saw the clouds rolling in so we came home and then a huge storm came through,” Sally Woods said.

The pounding continued in Union County. Drivers there could barely see the road from all the rain, and that was followed by flooding.

Storms knocked down trees and power lines, leaving thousands without power.

They brought torrential downpours, hail, booming thunder, frequent lightning and damaging wind gusts.

The Chesterfield Fire Department reported quarter-sized hail in Burke County shortly before 2 p.m.

There were reports of downed trees and power lines on Malcolm Boulevard near Rutherford College in Burke County, and on Antioch Road near Highway 18 in Burke County.

Trees and power lines were reported down in Valdese, while power lines fell on a home near Hauss Ridge Road in Burke County.

Viewer Devin Cherry sent Channel 9 a video of powerful winds whipping in Rock Hill and a huge part of a tree falling apart.

Viewer Jackie Waterhouse sent a video in between Monroe and Marshville in Union County where you can barely see anything during the torrential downpour.

When the rain lets up just a bit, you can see roads in that area are flooded.

There were reports of more trees toppled over into yards and roads in south Charlotte.

Thousands left without power

Thousands of Duke Energy customers were left without power after storms muscled through the area.

Mecklenburg County had the most power outages with more than 5,500 late Sunday night. Rowan County had around 800 homes in the dark.

At one point, Iredell County had more than 1,800 outages, but power has since been restored.

More than 3,700 customers were without power in Rock Hill.

With heat indexes over 100 degrees on Sunday, many homes didn't have power to stay cool before the storms hit.

Duke Energy said trees fell on power lines overnight in east Charlotte.

Channel 9 spoke to a woman whose family suffered in the heat most of the day, keeping cool with rags, cold showers and water.

“Making sure that we had enough, being able to breathe, being able to function in this heat. Heat kills,” Donna Oliver said.

Those residents finally got power back around 3 p.m. Sunday.

Cox Media Group