A severe thunderstorm around 3 p.m. Sunday caused power outages and some property damage in areas across
Carroll County. Wind gusts were measured from 46 miles per hour to some predictions of 70 miles per hour. The
high winds brought down trees and limbs across the county. Felled trees blocked a number of streets in Huntingdon
and McKenzie, as well as on rural roads. However, no injuries were reported.
Huntingdon and McKenzie were probably the hardest hit towns in the county.
In Huntingdon, a huge oak tree that fell at the Rusty and Joy Ross’ house at 433 Circle Drive, damaged the rear
corner of the house with its limbs covering the rooftop.
Joy Ross was outside gathering her up her flower pots to bring them inside when the storm struck. She was
trapped for a short time until neighbor Ryan Parish rescued her by crawling through limbs and made her a path to
crawl through.
“To God be the glory. Ryan is my hero.” she said while standing in her yard watching 25 or more relatives,
friends and neighbors clearing away the debris. “I could have been killed.”
The Ross couple’s neighbor, Lisa Futrell, lost a willow tree that intermingled with the oak tree when it fell.
Rusty Ross was inside suffering from a kidney stone when the storm bore down and didn’t realize anything was
wrong until the couple’s dog, Ace, came inside and he followed him to the door.
The couple said they were most appreciative of the many people who rushed to the scene to assist with the
cleanup.
In McKenzie, at 148 Paris Pike, Jackie Beeler’s rooftop was damaged when a tree in his yard snapped and fell
across his roof.
“It really scared me when the tree fell,” he said.
Bethel University’s campus experienced tree damage. A set of soccer field bleachers were blown across the street
from the playing field.
It was reported that Brian Bennett’s residence in McKenzie was damaged when a tree fell on its rooftop.
Several streets and roads were blocked for a time, but city crews and members of various fire departments and the
Carroll County Highway Department were out immediately with equipment as they moved the trees from the
roadway for traffic to pass.
Nine streets in Huntingdon were closed with only Mustang Dr. still closed Monday morning.
In McKenzie, Paris Street was blocked by a felled tree for a short time.
Carroll County Emergency Management director Janice Newman said she and her daughter, Amanda, and Carroll
County Fire Chief Terry Bradshaw were assessing damages on Monday.
Ten homes in Huntingdon and 13 homes in McKenzie received damage with more expected to be reported as time
passed. A Carroll County Co-Op equipment shed’s roof blew off, Newman said.
Clarksburg Mayor Howell Todd, who did a check of the town said he found very little damage. One power line
was down on Poplar Springs Road and some Bradford pear trees were blown over. The mayor measured the wind
gusts there at 46 miles per hour.
In Bruceton, town recorder Annie Hand said the most damage there was in the city park where some trees were
blown down and one of the roofs of one of the dugouts was blown off.
In Hollow Rock, there was very little damage, according to town recorder Pam Gallimore. Just outside the town
on Highway 70, an abandoned building burned when it was struck by lightning.
Trezevant town recorder Kathy Edwards said she had not heard of much damage in Trezevant. Mostly tree limbs
were blown off, she said. However, the power was out on Clay and Crooked Streets.
In Atwood, Rosemary Taylor’s above ground swimming pool on Brooks Road was destroyed.
“They had just cleaned it out,” said resident Randy Long. “If water had been in it, it might have been ok.”
District II road supervisor Scotty Bailey said he had no washouts on the roads in his district, but had several roads
with trees across them. Some of them included Fire Tower, St. Paul Church, Carroll Lake and Clear Lake Roads.
District I road supervisor Ricky Scott said roads in his district that had fallen trees across them included
Republican Grove, Bigham Lane, Oak Grove, Cavia, Shiloh, Dameron and Birdwell.
Both road supervisors said their crews worked from about 3 p.m. until or 10 p.m. before they finished.
Carroll County Electric linemen worked 12 hours straight from 3 p.m. Sunday until 3 a.m. Monday restoring
power that had been knocked out mostly by falling trees and limbs, according to manager Danny Brawner.
Of the company’s 15,500 customers, approximately 8,100 were out of power. By Monday morning, all but 500
had their power on.
“This is the worst storm we’ve had in awhile,” said Brawner.
