An unanticipated severe thunderstorm hit Grounds and surrounding neighborhoods yesterday, leaving several trees down, damaged homes and vehicles beyond repair.
"It went from a few drops to a hurricane in a couple of minutes," fourth-year Engineering student Matthew Sefcik said. Like most summer residents in Charlottesville, he said he was caught completely off-guard by the storm in his second-floor room "when the house began to shake as the thunder increased and bricks started falling past my window."
Sefcik said high winds brought down not only his house's chimney, but also a tree on top of his Mitsubishi Montero.
While Sefcik said his SUV is likely totaled, he is unsure of any structural damage to his house.
"So far there have been no leaks," he said. "But we haven't been on the roof, so we don't know if it is damaged yet."
He said most of the attention is paid to the tree covering up the yard and extending into the parking lot -- although neighborhood help has not been forthcoming.
"A lot of people have been coming by to take pictures and make fun of us," Sefcik said.
In addition to destruction in the city's neighborhoods, businesses on The Corner and buildings on Central Grounds felt the wrath of the storm.
Dan Park, a fourth-year College studentsaid he was witness to all three sides of destruction, having been at The Virginian during the storm, seeing the outskirts of Central Grounds, and then returning to his house on Virginia Avenue shortly afterwards.
At The Virginian, Park said he watched as "umbrellas were picked up from the street and thrown down it, along with the chairs that were sitting outside, and trees across the street were shaking."
Park added that his house did not see any actual damage, although several trees are currently leaning against it. Power was still out yesterday due to scores of fallen wires, in addition to a fallen telephone pole.
After leaving Sugar Hollow to get away from thunder, fourth-year Engineering student Brad Greeff said he found himself barely on the outer rim of the storm.
"I didn't realize the storm was so big until I got to [the corner of] Emmet and University, which was flooded like crazy."
Greeff said he continued driving toward the Sigma Pi house and went down 14th Street, passing downed power lines and even transformer boxes.
Le-Ha Anderson, a spokesperson for Dominion Virginia Power, said that more than 3,000 customers were still without power as of 2 p.m. yesterday, an improvement from the 16,000 powerless the day before. She added that all power should have been restored by 12 a.m. this morning.
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