Wednesday, Jul. 23, 2008

Brief storm packs wallop

No one hurt as more than 100 trees downed

Patricia Huggins and seven of her relatives have no permanent place to live after at least two trees crashed onto the roof of their Truman Street home during severe thunderstorms Monday evening.

Huggins saw lightning flash, heard crackling, then branches tore through the ceiling, including one that narrowly missed her elderly mother as she darted from the kitchen.

“I didn’t even know she could move that fast,” Huggins said. “God made my mother move. He moved her out of the way just in the nick of time.”

Huggins, 43, who was watching the Nickelodeon channel with her 3-year-old grandson and 2-year-old triplet granddaughters in their home off West Beltline Boulevard, was one of a number of people displaced by Monday’s storm.

The intense weather, which barreled through the area Monday evening, downed more than 100 trees and damaged homes in the older in-town neighborhoods of Heathwood, Shandon, Cottontown and Earlewood.

An elderly woman was displaced after lighting caused a fire at her Saluda Avenue home, leaving $65,000 damage, Columbia fire officials said.

There were no reported injuries during the storm, City Manager Charles Austin said.

Crews continued to work Tuesday restoring power and clearing trees off homes and power lines, said Keller Kissam, vice-president of electric operations for SCE&G.

Power was restored to nearly all customers in the area by Tuesday night. At the height of the storms, about 45,000 people were without power in the state.

“We appreciate everyone’s patience and cooperation and really appreciate the spirit of Columbia we saw out there with neighbors helping neighbors,” SCE&G’s Kissam said.

The American Red Cross provided lodging for one family Monday night and has been assisting three other families, said public relations manager Mary Weyant.

The Columbia/Richland Emergency Communications Center received a full day’s calls in a five-hour span during the storm, said Mike King, the center’s director.

The city received 1,746 emergency calls, Mayor Bob Coble said; 850 of them required someone to be dispatched.

A quick temperature drop can indicate how severe a thunderstorm is, and the temperature dropped 23 degrees in an hour Monday at Columbia’s Owens Field, from 95 at 3 p.m. to 72 at 4 p.m.

There could be more of the same coming. The forecast called for a 50 percent chance of afternoon thunderstorms today and Thursday.

Eleanor Blizard, 70, was still out of electricity Tuesday morning at her Monroe Street home in the Shandon neighborhood.

A large tree fell on power lines at the nearby intersection of Maple and Monroe streets, and she waited for crews to clean up.

“It was terrible,” Blizard said. “It went on long enough to make a mess in my yard. I didn’t get to eat supper.”

Other areas of the state, such as Barnwell County, also suffered damage.

In Williston, several roofs were torn off storage barns and the scoreboard was mangled and concession stand damaged at Williston-Elko High School football stadium, said Roger Riley, director of the Barnwell County Emergency Management Agency.

Other areas of the state also received damage. Some of the worst was in the Upstate in the foothills.

At North Greenville University, officials said strong winds damaged the roofs of two buildings while 900 teenage campers huddled in the school’s chapel.

No one was injured.

Back in Columbia, most of Huggins’ family is temporarily staying with relatives.

Huggins’ nephew Darius Jackson, 17, said the house was shaking when the trees landed on it.

“I thought it was an earthquake or something. I ain’t never been in no situation like this ever in my life.”

Reach Higgins at (803) 771-8570. Staff Writers Joey Holleman, Adam Beam and the Associated Press contributed.