Windstorm topples trees, flips vacant mobile home in Wayne County

WAYNE COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) - While we have shown you some images of storm damage overnight Friday in Wayne County, WSAZ’s Andrew Colegrove visited the Shoals area to take a closer look.

He spoke with one neighbor who has lived there nearly 50 years. She said she’s never seen wind do anything like this before.

The only thing residents can compare this to is the ice storm a couple years ago that brought so many trees down. Neighbors along state Route 75 in the Shoals area say they woke up around 5 a.m. to the sound of strong winds.

When they went outside, they saw tree after tree had been toppled. Some fell onto rooftops and across roads and railroad tracks. A vacant mobile home was flipped.

Crews have been out working on getting power back on and clearing trees blocking roads and driveways. Neighbor John Barr described what it sounded like, and it’s a comparison we’ve heard before.

“I worked on the railroad 28 years. It sounded like a locomotive. I heard a loud thump, thought the car had slammed into the garage door. It was actually a tree that had fallen,” Barr said.

Barr and other neighbors say they’re just relieved no one was hurt.

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