A powerful round of storms rolled through Northeast Ohio on Monday and left a mess behind in some communities.
In North Ridgeville, Allen Sorok said he braved torrential rain for a quick store run early Monday morning.
"Instead of rain coming down, it was going sideways,” he said.
When he returned home, he found a large tree lying across power lines and piercing his roof.
"I was mad, very mad. I mean, what are you going to do? You’re going to be mad,” he said. “There’s just a big tree leaning against my house … And it’s like, c’mon, I don’t need this right now. I just retired, and I want to enjoy my life.”
The North Ridgeville Fire Department said it fielded several calls for trees falling on or near power lines. It also responded to a report of suspected lightning striking a home. No injuries or major damage were discovered.
In Summit County, a News 5 employee recorded hail pummelling a West Akron neighborhood.
In Cuyahoga County, street lights were out for hours in Bay Village.
The high winds also caused a century-old building to collapse in East Cleveland. Property owner Burgandy Moultry said the building had been in her family’s possession for decades and she was in the process of revitalizing the now-vacant property.
"We tried to keep the store open. So this is like a great tragedy for us. It’s horrible,” Moultry said.
She said the building was uninsured because of challenges in acquiring coverage for the aging property. But she still hoped to prevent demolition.
"When it looks like this, I know that that is a possibility, but if I have a way to save it, if somebody could help me save it, then I would like to save it and bring some businesses back," she said.
Early Monday, First Energy was reporting thousands of power outages caused by the storms.
RELATED: More than 37,000 without power in Northeast Ohio after storms
A spokesperson for the company said the weather was likely to blame for damage to a substation in Sheffield Lake.
Neighbor Mike Mikulski said he woke around 5 a.m. to noise at the Knickerbocker substation and flames coming from one of the transformers.
"I got up, looked out the window and saw a little fire starting at the ground level where the machines are,” Mikulski said.
A tree company was preparing to clear the fallen tree from Sorok’s yard and nearby powerlines on Monday afternoon. The North Ridgeville neighbor was running a generator after he said he was told he could be without power for several days.
"I’m just upset. It’s shocking,” he said.
No injuries were reported during Monday morning’s storms. Sorok said it was fortunate his son had already left for work when the large tree came through the ceiling of his bedroom.
Sorok also said he was bracing for more storms this week and monitoring the other large trees on his property.
"The way that tree looks, it’s going to take this wire out again,” he said, pointing to a tall dead tree nearby.
First Energy said its crews are in “storm mode” this week, repairing damage as needed. The power company encourages customers to report outages as soon as they happen so it can assess the problem.
