STRONG – George Carter had never seen anything like that before.
It was about 3 p.m. on Monday. The sun was shining and Carter was out mowing his lawn. From his Pillsbury Road view he could see Sugarloaf Mountain.
“I thought, boy, it’s getting black over there,” he remembers. Then it started to rain and rain really hard. A fierce wind kicked up in all directions. He ran inside his house and waited with the rest of the family.
“It was like being in a car wash. You know, you’re sitting there and the water is coming at you from all directions but you know you’re safe in that little cocoon,” Carter, who is retired, said.
Except that safe feeling of being in the car cocoon was missing when the Carter’s metal roof started to peel off in sheets. Then a torrent of water flooded into their living room. His granddaughter screamed, his disabled wife, Sharon, sitting near the living room window and was not able to get out of her wheelchair without assistance, cried as she looked out.
It lasted 10 maybe 15 long minutes. Then it was over.
“She went through here real quick. Like a freight train,” George Carter said.
In assessing the damage, the Carters discovered that an estimated 50 big trees out the back of their barn had gone down. About 10 metal strips of roofing had been ripped off their house. Electricity, knocked out, returned about 24 hours later on Tuesday afternoon. The Carters managed overnight with a portable generator because of Sharon Carter’s disability needs and, as George Carter noted, “we live in Maine.”
The water that came in after the roof was torn off above the living room ruined a lot of recent work.
“We had just finished painting the living room and kitchen. Trying to spruce the place up a little,” Carter said and he added, “I’m not much of a house wife so I thought fresh paint would help make things look nice.”
The Carter’s daughter, Elizabeth Renshaw lives nearby between Strong and New Vineyard and had heard about the severe thunderstorm and possible tornado warning coming. As the storm subsided, her dad called and said “Oh, we just lost part of our roof.”
“I thought he was kidding,” she said. She ran over to find numerous big trees across Pillsbury Road. Some hung on power lines. Debris from the battered trees was everywhere. Inside the home, the fresh paint work and wall board beneath it are soaking wet.
“It’s a mess,” George Carter said, but the family is grateful no one was injured.
Strong Fire Chief Duayne Boyd said his crew was out after the storm removing numerous trees blocking the roads. Three utility poles were replaced by Central Maine Power Co. today on Pillsbury Road. Nearby Spaulding Road had trees down, too, he said.
The American Red Cross of Maine arrived at the Carter’s home today with a $100 emergency card and began to assess the damage to their property. Renshaw said she had been told that 44 emergency cards had been given out so far in Franklin County alone. Red Cross representatives told the Carters they will return.
George Carter still can’t believe what he witnessed yesterday.
“Wow, I’ve never seen anything like that in my life,” he said.
Glad you guys are all ok.
When George says he has never seen anything like it, you better believe it was a nasty storm… because that spot on the hill gets more than its fair share of severe weather in all seasons. In 4 years living there, I saw numerous funnel clouds in summer storms, winds that regularly gusted over hurricane force, a low temperature of -40°, and more than one snowstorm where we had to dig down 2-3 feet in the snow to find the ROOF of an SUV!
There’s something about the terrain there that amplifies the weather. But what a spot, and what a view!
That is crazy! I’m so glad everyone is ok. Bless the Red Cross for all they do for people! It may not be much compared to the damage, but it’s something!
Glad you all are alright…things can be replaced but not ppl. Here in Phillips on my road we only got the heavy rain and a little wind..funny how the path of the storm hit some places around us, but no damage here…
I was traveling from New Sharon when it was hitting Strong and never rain into anything by the time we got into strong i said to my husband what the hell happened did they get a tornado? I have never seen anything like it before….
If you had driven from New Sharon via Industry rd and Rt. 43 you could have possibly driven right through it.
In West Mills it was like nothing I had ever seen. Wind, hail, trees snapping. Really glad no one was hurt.
My sister lost two big trees at her home on rt 4 in string just beyond Chandler Mill Rd.
Very glad everyone is alright.