Tuesday’s Storms Downed Trees, Destroyed Houses in Lincoln County

LINCOLNTON, N.C. — “It came out of nowhere,” says Jade Pahel, “It was quiet one second and then the next, it was just an uproar.”

Pahel and her roommate, Serra Hallman, looked outside Tuesday night as storms rolled in, and couldn’t believe what they saw.

“It came in so fast. It was crazy,” Hallman adds, “The wind, the rain, they came out of absolutely nowhere. It’s dark, it’s cloudy, then it just goes whoosh and our trash can blows away.”

They said the worst wind and rain was over in a matter of minutes, but the damage was done in an instant.

“Somebody takes a peek out here, my roommate, and he goes, ‘Our carports are gone,'” Hallman says.

A suspected microburst lashed their northeast Lincolnton neighborhood with 80 mph winds and torrential rainfall Tuesday night, endangering all in its path.

Some of the worst damage was found at the 2500 block of Brookwood Road, where this massive 75-foot tree fell on an elderly woman’s home and smashed the right side of the dwelling. The woman, who was in the house at the time, escaped without serious injury and will be staying with relatives while they figure out what to do next.

Power lines and trees were strewn about across nearby Brookhaven Drive, where Dochett Wilson and his wife were in their living room.

“I looked out the window and I hadn’t even gotten out of the recliner but a few minutes, if even that, and walked over to the window and looked out, and the power went off and I told her. I said, ‘Let’s go downstairs,’” says Wilson.

“And when we did, I turned around and the ceiling had fell on top of the recliner.”

The couple rode out the storm in the basement, lucky to be alive and unharmed. Unfortunately, the house they’ve lived in for 30 years wasn’t so fortunate.

“It was heartbreaking to see everything damaged, but I am not the type of person to dwell on it, because I feel like I can find somewhere else to live or whatever if I have to.”