Storms leave mess behind in Summerville

Monday night's storms left behind a mess in parts of Chattooga County.  Residents along 6th Street in Summerville tell FOX 5 they saw storms bring down two massive trees in a matter of only a few seconds.  

"I live right down the street and I heard something, and me and the kids came up the street to look and when we were getting ready to do that, we saw the tree fall on that house, and then this was falling at the same time, and I just went hysterical," said LaBrenda Jones, who watched the trees fall.
 
One of the trees crushed a home, splitting it in half.  Neighbors tell FOX 5 the elderly man who lived in the home just moved out a few weeks ago.

Another tree blocked the street as crews worked to remove it.  That second tree narrowly missed hitting Claude Foster, who lives on 6th Street, too.

"I had seen all these dark clouds over here and next thing I know, I got past the tree going to the store and it just came down," Foster said.  "I just took off."

Damage in downtown Summerville took out power lines and left another family worried that they might lose all they had.  Ellen Kinnamont's son is in the Army and was just deployed to Korea.  He's unaware that his family's belongings were drenched by rain after wind ripped the roof off of their storage unit.   Kinnamont said they're moving his family's belongings to a drier location, but some of their things might not be salvageable.  

Tommy Pledger, who owns the storage center where Kinnamont's son's belongings are being stored, told FOX 5 that lots of people's belongings got wet in the storm, and now, they're trying to do something about it by helping move those items to a drier place.
 
"This is home," Pledger said.  "I don't want anything to happen to any of the people around here because they're all just like family."