JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Crews and neighbors across Duval County are cleaning up after Friday’s storm snapped trees and utility poles in two and trapped and crushed several vehicles.
Thousands of people remained without power Friday evening, according to JEA's outage map.
Off Trout River Boulevard and Lem Turner Road, first responders blocked off Highland Avenue with caution tape Friday morning and power lines still blocked the road that evening. Scott McClure showed First Coast News photos of his neighbor's car crushed by fallen trees on 1st Avenue and his pickup truck trapped by them.
“There was a lot of explosions," McClure said. "Heard the transformers popping around, at least eight of them. Heard a bunch of crackling, trees falling and then you could hear all the electricity just run through the tree. The tree took down the lines.”
Duane Myra was eating at a nearby restaurant and said the lights flickered on and off multiple times. A large tree was split beside Pig-Bar-B-Q. Myra said he did not have power at the business he works at right around the corner.
“The wind was just blowing stuff all over the place," Myra said. "It was like a tropical storm that we get in a week with a tropical storm.”
Just west in Oceanway, a large tree split in two in Clint Thompson's front yard.
“It was blowing and all of the sudden I heard a loud crack and a pop and all I knew to do was say, ‘Lord, please save the house,'” Thompson said.
Thompson's house and his neighbors he checked on are all okay.
“I am extremely grateful," he said. "I am extremely grateful that it didn’t fall on the house. I mean, it tore up the fence a little bit, but that’s nothing big. I can fix that up.”
Myra said he felt the same way.
“It could’ve been a whole lot worse," he said. "I’m thankful that there are a lot of people that are okay.”