Damage, power outages after Christmas Eve storms

JACKSONVILLE, Florida. – A line of heavy storms that spread quickly across Northeastern Florida on Christmas Eve left power outages and felled trees in its wake.

Not long after the storms began to move inland, from Waycross to Lake City at around 4 pm, severe storm warnings were issued for Clinch and Columbia counties.

As the rain progressed, Clay, Duval, Nassau, Putnam St. Johns, Camden and Glynn were under severe storm warnings until 7:30 pm

News4Jax started receiving damage reports as soon as the dust settled.

In Jacksonville’s Dinsmore neighborhood, the winds were strong enough to destroy a house’s backyard and tear down a nearby fence. News4Jax found three damaged houses in the Waterbrook Falls subdivision.

Neighbors said the storm passed in a matter of minutes.

“It was like a nightmare. I’ve never seen anything like it. I thank God that the children and I were fine, ”said Deborah Dempsey, who lives in the neighborhood.

Dempsey said the storm passed while she was preparing dinner for the family. In addition to the damage to the courtyard, its roof was torn.

“We heard a hissing sound and after a while, glass and everything started to splash and water came in here and destroyed everything outside,” she said. “We didn’t know if it was over or what, because everything happened so fast.”

Next door, the winds raised the top of a chimney. Another house had a big tree fall in the yard.

Dempsey said he is grateful that no one was hurt.

There were reports of trees and fallen branches that blocked the roads in Mandarin.

Hood Road was blocked in both directions a mile east of Old St. Augustine Road after a large tree fell and a power line on Claire Lane stopped traffic.

A tree landed on a house in the Nature’s Walk subdivision:

Rick Blyar, the owner of the house, said he was inside when the storm passed.

“It looked like a tornado,” he said. “So, I went to a bathtub. Then it seemed to die. I left and at the same time that I was leaving, my neighbors were leaving to find out what was going on and we saw it. “

Blyar said he never heard the tree fall in the house because the winds were too strong. He said the damage was minimal because the tree landed on a support beam.

Nearby, a large tree fell on a trailer. The police said no one was home when he fell.

Also in Mandarin, a power outage did not stop the Mandarin Presbyterian Church from holding its Christmas Eve service. Take a look:

In Lake City, Jerry Norenberg said he was preparing to eat food with his roommates when a tree passed their home.

Norenberg said that they have to leave immediately.

“I took a step out of the kitchen and the next thing you know, it looked like a car passed by the house,” he said. “It shook me, I turned around and realized that there was a tree stuck in the house.

Norenberg said they are trying to save what they can. He plans to stay with friends.

Power outages have affected thousands of homes. At 9:20 pm, the JEA showed 677 people without power. Clay Electric showed 13,505 people without power. Florida Power and Light showed 1,428 outages.

OUTAGE MAPS | JEA | FPL | Clay Electric

A viewer sent a photo of a light that fell in the parking lot of a shopping mall near Baymeadows and Interstate 295.