Harford County residents cleaning up after storms leave substantial mess: 'It's unbelievable'
BALTIMORE - Residents are picking up the pieces after powerful storms hit Harford County Monday evening.
"We've seen every hurricane that's come up the Bay," Sara Sweeney, from Forest Hill, said. "Nothing like yesterday. It's unbelievable."
The home of a family in Forest Hill was spared after several tall trees snapped in their backyard.
"They weren't up from the roots," Sweeney said. "Things just sheared off. It was like somebody took a sieve and went swoosh and it happened so quickly."
In White Hall, another family was not as lucky.
A massive tree fell onto the home of a couple in their 70s, crashing into the room they were in.
The couple's son, Todd Sexton, told WJZ his father dug his mother out of the rubble.
The couple had to be rescued by firefighters and taken to the hospital.
"Emotionally, I mean, it's a very stressful situation," Sexton said. "(It's a) pretty traumatic incident that happened to them."
Harford County Executive Bob Cassilly said the storm caused four structural collapses across the county with the worst damage in the northern section.
"That was a really major storm, a really wicked storm, and it really hit across the county," Cassilly said.
Cassilly said emergency services were prepared for the storm. They started tracking it around to Monday afternoon.
Their team worked with BGE to restore power to more than 10,000 homes overnight.
They also had crews out throughout the county clearing about 80 road closures due to fallen trees.
"By 4 a.m. we cleared all but about 19 of those and we couldn't clear because they had wires," Cassilly said.
Only minor injuries were reported during this storm in Harford County.
Sexton said repairing the damage to his family's home is the least of their worries. He's just thankful his parents are OK.
"They are the whole family," Sexton said. "My mother is the whole family. If it wasn't for the fireman and my father, she wouldn't be alive today."
Harford County has set up crisis response line for people still without power.
They've also set up seven locations throughout the county so that people can drop off brush.
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