Friday’s storm causes power outages in Gaston County

Updated: May. 22, 2020 at 10:40 PM EDT
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GASTONIA, N.C. (WBTV) - Friday’s storms made a mess in Gaston County.

Several homes are damaged and with no power.

In Gastonia, near Woodhaven Lane, is one area where families are trying to clean up.

A big concern for some is food.

Families are still stocked up with quarantine meals.

One woman told WBTV’s Bria Bell she had 200 dollars worth of meat in her deep freezer and she’s afraid that it will all be bad by this weekend if the power is still out.

Just as fast as the storm came, it left.

Uprooted trees and damaged roofs are proof of the nasty weather.

The Massey family was quick to take cover as soon as they heard rumblings outside.

All three daughters say it was their mom who yelled for each of them to get down.

“I was really scared because I didn’t know what was happening,” said Harper Massey.

“It’s kind of weird, it passed by so quickly, but it did so much," Ella Kate Massey said.

The worst of the damage is behind yellow caution tape put up by firefighters.

Broken power lines were still considered to be hot, according to the first responders, so they wouldn’t let anyone behind the barricaded area.

Ashton Massey said she was trying to finish some online homework as the storms were rolling in.

She was able to submit her work, she said, only by the skin of her teeth before the storm knocked out the power.

“I think I was working on fractions,” she said.

If families did not have a generator already, they spent Friday night looking for one.

They’re hoping it doesn’t take long for their neighborhood to be cleaned up and power fully restored.

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