JOHNSONVILLE, SC (WBTW) – Storms rolled through the city of Johnsonville around midnight Saturday causing extensive damage.
Jennifer Lyerly and her family had just come home from Myrtle Beach Saturday night before the Johnsonville area went under a severe thunderstorm warning.
“After twenty minutes while being here, all of a sudden it sounded like a freight train ended up in the middle of the house,” Lyerly said.
Lyerly says she was trying to unplug all the electronics in her house when the storm hit her home.
“Pillars moved, lights thrown off, garage door messed up, the whole house shook, there is several cracked ceilings inside the house,” added Lyerly.
On the outside of the Lyerly’s home is the same story.
“Three vehicles, my husband’s Harris Pest Control van, my work car and my husband’s truck,” Lyerly explained.
There was some damage visible right after the storm happened in the early morning hours of Sunday morning, but in the daylight people are realizing just how serious this storm was.
The storm ripped trees from down to the roots and ripped away parts of the roof of Johnsonville Middle School.
“Parts of the roof had been pulled up from some of the insulation, we had some trees down, walked to the back of the building beside our cafeteria, and we had a canopy that the kids could eat outside. That canopy had been ripped up and actually taken across the school to the yard and house on the other side,” explained Johnsonville Middle School Principal Randy Willis.
Now, friends, family and neighbors are helping put back the pieces.
“I’m just very thankful that we’re alive and well. I just thank the lord he kept us safe,” said Lyerly.
“The lord has blessed us, that this did not happen during school, ya know we were out for the summer. It happened at night so no one was in the building so we’re very blessed in that nobody got hurt. Things can be replaced people cannot,” Principal Willis added.
