Chad and Sarah Phillips talk to Mike Kessler (right) of Davidson College about their options for temporary housing while their Ney Circle home is repaired. (David Boraks/DavidsonNews.net)

By DAVID BORAKS
DavidsonNews.net

Sarah Phillips was just putting her 2-year-old daughter to bed in an upstairs bedroom of her Ney Circle home Friday night around 8:15 when she heard a big storm outside.

“That storm came up fast, with lots of lightning and thunder,” Ms. Phillips said Saturday morning. The house shook “four or five times, pretty violently, and it was obvious that a tree had fallen on the house.”

More photos below.

A limb had punctured the roof and she and husband Chad could hear rain and wind coming in. Outside, they found an old oak had uprooted and crashed onto the two-story brick home.

On Saturday, the Phillipses were among many Davidson residents and business owners picking up after the violent storm blew quickly through town, toppling trees and limbs and knocking down power lines.

Hundreds of customers in old Davidson, the McConnell neighborhood and other parts of town were without power for several hours. Many got their power back by midnight, others by sunrise. As of Saturday morning, power had been restored to all but a handful of homes.

Nobody was reported hurt in Davidson, despite the storm’s fury. But trees were down in several neighborhoods. One large oak behind the Stowe’s Corner building in Davidson toppled and glanced off the building before falling across South Street.

Another tree came down on South Main Street near Walnut Street, across from the Davidson United Methodist Church’s McKay Youth House. That also took power lines with it. South Street remained closed overnight as officials awaited the arrival of a tree service to clean up the site.

On Houston Street, on Davidson’s West Side, Efird Robinson was inside his home at No. 308 when the storm came through. “It didn’t make a lot of noise,” he said. But a limb broke off a tree across the street, snagged power lines and fell into the road, blocking traffic. “I’m glad that limb there didn’t come this way,” he said Saturday morning while sitting in his wheelchair and sweeping his front steps.

Over on Ney Circle, Ms. Phillips, who is 9 months’ pregnant with twins, grabbed daughter Caroline and joined her husband in getting out of the house quickly. They called the fire department, and firefighters were there “within a minute,” she said. They shut off gas and electricity and made sure the house was secure.

The Phillipses stayed the night with friends, and on Saturday they were studying options for short-term shelter while their home is repaired.

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July 9, 2010, “Violent storm downs trees, cuts power, sparks alarms” – See a story and photos from during and just after the storm Friday night.

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