Strong Saturday night storms shut down streets, knock out power

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Strong storms barreled through the region overnight leaving behind damage and power outages.

Iredell and Catawba counties were hit the hardest by Sunday morning’s storms.

In Terrell, on Lake Norman, a tree fell on a house. Other neighbors were left with tree limbs down in their yards and felt their homes shake.

[IMAGES: Damage caused by Sunday morning storms]

Residents have been cleaning up from the powerful storms and dealing with power outages.

"I mean, Sheetrock everywhere, and that's what woke me up was the Sheetrock, and pictures on the wall falling,” Mitchell Jones said.

Jones said he and his wife were sleeping during the storm, but when he woke up, he saw tree limbs sticking through his roof.

"I got up, went into the hallway, I was walking through an inch of water,” Jones said. “Just as I was coming around the corner, going into the big space, (the) family room, kitchen area, (and I) saw tree limbs coming through the roof. (There was a) big gap. It was just huge gaps in the roof."

Residents are assessing the damage.

"I've been up here and through a lot of storms, but I've never seen one like that,” Bobby Cranor said. “It almost blew the house down. I've never seen lightning like that."

Other residents didn’t suffer as much damage, but were still picking up pieces the storm left behind.

“So now it's just pick up debris and go on with the day,” Lacey Turner said.

"The storm is rough, and the tree up here is down. We got limbs down. I mean, limbs are everywhere,” Cranor said.

Police are asking boaters to watch out for debris and trees floating on Lake Norman.

Firefighters in Salisbury are trying to determine if lightning caused an overnight house fire on Mooresville Road just before 3 a.m.

Parts of Highway 150 in Sherrills Ford was closed because of multiple trees down on the road and low-hanging power lines.

NASCAR fans camping out at Charlotte Motor Speedway were warned by the fire department to take shelter.

Cox Media Group