WILKES-BARRE TOWNSHIP, Pa -- Monday marked the first day back at work for employees at Ken Pollock Nissan after last Wednesday's tornado ripped through the place.
Employees said with cars flipped all over the lot, they were shocked they were able to clean up so much so fast.
The last of some broken glass, rocks, and car parts were being swept up at the dealership Monday afternoon.
Windows were shattered by that debris in last week’s EF2 tornado.
Cars were flipped in the winds of up to 130 miles per hour.
General manager Gary Peters said every vehicle in the lot was moved by the twister.
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"I didn't know what to think when I saw it. It was just pretty surreal,” Peters said.
Employees worked a lot of overtime hours over the last five days so the dealership could reopen as soon as possible.
“The fact that we're open right now on Monday after it happened Wednesday night is pretty amazing. That's just kudos to our team here,” Peters said.
The service department opened first, as insurance adjusters are inspecting every vehicle. None of them are for sale yet.
“Not just the damage from the wind, we have a lot of broken glass, if water got into the cars and all that kind of stuff. We have to check every car before we can sell them to make sure they're perfect,” Peters said.
The hope is to fix cars with minor scrapes. Others are totaled and will be dealt with by insurance.
Peters said the dealership had 430 cars in the lot, and all the ones outside were damaged.
“Probably about 10 of them are undamaged, and that was just because they were in the showroom or they're demos,” Peters said.
Despite the enormous task in front of them, even cleaning up cars that were tossed hundreds of yards away, employees said they have a lot for which to be grateful.
“We always say that it's the people that make the difference, and they just proved it -- why we're different from everybody else,” Peters said.
Ken Pollock also owns a Maserati dealership just up Mundy Street from the Nissan dealership. None of the cars in that lot were damaged by the twister.