WATERFORD — Tuesday's storm left a mark on parts of western Racine County, leaving some Waterford property owners with severe damage that will take significant time and effort to address.
Several trees fell on a house on Racine Street on Tuesday night, near Waterford Union High School.
Those trees pierced the kitchen, crushed a car, and totaled the detached garage, according to homeowner Gwen Nellen.
"I'm surprised that the house wasn't totaled," she said. "You can see it. It's on the car. The trees are in the kitchen."
Nellen's son and granddaughter currently live in the house and were there Tuesday night when the storm blew through the area. Everyone inside the home is okay.
Watch: Waterford property owners assess damage following Tuesday's storm
"They were in the basement," Nellen said.
Nellen lives in Caledonia and was in her own basement Tuesday night during the storm.
"I wanted to get in my car and get here for them," Nellen said.
She arrived in Waterford around 5 a.m. Wednesday and was met with a lot of work to be done.
"Overwhelmed. Overwhelmed, because it's like, 'When is all of this going to get done?'" Nellen said.
Next door, resident Paul Karczewski heard the damage happen.
"I like to watch storms, which I was doing, and then I heard this big bang and wasn't sure what it was. And I came out to see, and that's when I saw the trees were topped off and his damage over there," Karczewski said. "And it was nasty. I wanted to go over and make sure they were alright, but I was afraid to go out with all the lightning."
The wind took off the tops of three pine trees in Paul's front yard, minor damage compared to what happened next door.
"We were very fortunate because we didn't get the damage like our neighbor got," he said.
In the light of Wednesday morning, with everyone accounted for, attention turned to the cleanup.
"It's aggravating," Karczewski said with a laugh.
On Wednesday afternoon, tree removal crews were at work on Nellen's house.
"Now we don't have any more trees, so now we don't have to worry about this next time," Nellen said.
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