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Property Damage, Power Outages after Intense Storms

UNION TOWNSHIP, Pa. — A line of storms brought down trees and caused flash flooding in parts of our area Thursday night. Hundreds in Luzerne county lost p...

UNION TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- A line of storms brought down trees and caused flash flooding in parts of our area Thursday night. Hundreds in Luzerne county lost power and many remain in the dark.

Homes and businesses are still without power in northwest Luzerne County, that includes Fairmount, Hunlock, Huntington and Union Townships.

Folks who live there say in a matter of minutes they were left with days, even weeks of cleanup.

Strong winds peeled a roof from a house near Hunlock Creek in Union Township and brought down dozens of trees in Shickshinny Lake.

It knocked out power to homes and businesses.

"Not even a minute after we were in the basement, that's when we heard the crash and it sounded like a tin can and it all calmed down and we just seen this," Jason Czock said.

Neighbors say it only took seconds for the storm to wreak havoc on their properties.

"It went through so fast. I think it was over in 5 to 10 minutes, but it left a lot of damage. I lost some trees," Edd Raineri said. "We've been out here five hours already and it feels like we got nothing done."

Jason Czock said he and his neighbors have dealt with storms before but nothing like this.

"We had one tree fall down when we first moved in here, but a storm like this we never had, not the powerful ones like this."

"The wind just tore it like a toothpick, and it was gone," Raineri said. "I can't save it. The whole tree will have to come down now and it's going to cost a pretty penny."

Down the road at Huntington Valley firehouse, the Red Cross has left drinking water for anyone without power or water to pick up

Folks dealing with the storm's aftermath say they'll try to be more prepared for storms that leave this much damage.

"Don't have trees around your house, get them all cut down," Czock laughed.

A spokesperson for UGI tells us most of the power should be restored by the end of the day after a substation is fixed. All power is expected to be restored by the end of the weekend.

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