Sunday, July, 26, 2009, I was driving home from Hightstown around 6:45 PM, I could see the dark skies to the South East, as I passed through Yardville I could see straight line lightning.
As I got home as it started to rain, I double checked the windows in my daughters room, sometimes they are left open. As I came down stairs I heard the wind picking up and could hear hail hitting the house. On my back deck I have a roll up awning, I went out on the deck to roll it up, it was too late, the wind and rain was picking up, if I loosened it now the wind could catch it and I would most likely be seen "Hang Gliding" over Yardville on my awning, I decided to take a chance, it survived.
As I stood on the deck under the awning surveying the situation, I noticed a tree I have next to the deck and 8" across and 20' high really starting to move, I looked to my left and my neighbors, Joe & Donna, have an over 100 year old Buttonwood or Sycamore Tree in their yard about 40' high, which was whipping in the wind, but standing strong. All of a sudden the Buttonwood began to move towards me, there was a large crack and the tree toppled over the yard and into my pool, just 10 feet in front of me, The water splashed out of my pool and onto my truck, I stepped back into the house, then ventured back out. I called two of my neighbors to tell them, only to find that an eighty foot Poplar, five back yards away had uprooted and fallen over into the Buttonwood and taking most of the Buttonwood down and covering the backyards and my pool. In the process the Poplar Tree crushed a van owned by Bob and Brenda and their Starlight Dry Cleaners, and trapping three of their other vehicles in their yard.
As I got home as it started to rain, I double checked the windows in my daughters room, sometimes they are left open. As I came down stairs I heard the wind picking up and could hear hail hitting the house. On my back deck I have a roll up awning, I went out on the deck to roll it up, it was too late, the wind and rain was picking up, if I loosened it now the wind could catch it and I would most likely be seen "Hang Gliding" over Yardville on my awning, I decided to take a chance, it survived.
As I stood on the deck under the awning surveying the situation, I noticed a tree I have next to the deck and 8" across and 20' high really starting to move, I looked to my left and my neighbors, Joe & Donna, have an over 100 year old Buttonwood or Sycamore Tree in their yard about 40' high, which was whipping in the wind, but standing strong. All of a sudden the Buttonwood began to move towards me, there was a large crack and the tree toppled over the yard and into my pool, just 10 feet in front of me, The water splashed out of my pool and onto my truck, I stepped back into the house, then ventured back out. I called two of my neighbors to tell them, only to find that an eighty foot Poplar, five back yards away had uprooted and fallen over into the Buttonwood and taking most of the Buttonwood down and covering the backyards and my pool. In the process the Poplar Tree crushed a van owned by Bob and Brenda and their Starlight Dry Cleaners, and trapping three of their other vehicles in their yard.
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A large tree fell on Church Street near the Ray Dwier Center, taking down the top PSE&G Wires, 28,000 Volts to the ground and arcing on the ground, with all of their calls it was almost and hour before the power was shut off, the only damage there was too the road way.
In the darkness everyone gathered on Church Street, flashlight in hand to discuss the situation in the total darkness, as we all stood on Church Street, lit only by the arching wires over the hill, the eerie thing was it was so dark it was hard to see each other's face, but the emergency lights of the Groveville Methodist Church shown through the stained glass windows with a strange glow, it gave us the feeling that someone was watching over us.
In the darkness everyone gathered on Church Street, flashlight in hand to discuss the situation in the total darkness, as we all stood on Church Street, lit only by the arching wires over the hill, the eerie thing was it was so dark it was hard to see each other's face, but the emergency lights of the Groveville Methodist Church shown through the stained glass windows with a strange glow, it gave us the feeling that someone was watching over us.
As the sun came up this morning we saw the extent of the damage, several trees had fallen on the property behind Church Street, a large tree uprooted on Main Street, and lay behind a new Ranch Style house along the creek. and a large limb had fallen from a tree on to the roof of a finished garage and family room, next to the Sunday School Building, owned by Beta Chappel, this had crushed the roof and blown out the back wall. This is Beta's Garage below.
Today the town of Groveville and a lot of the surrounding towns was filled with the sound of Chain Saws and Chippers, Mr. Herdt from Crosswicks giving a lot of fence estimates and people calling their homeowners insurance.
As far as we know, in Groveville there was a lot of property damage, but no one was injured, so just as the town stood in total darkness with only the light from the church, someone was watching over us. God Blessed us all.
