CULLODEN, W.Va. — A storm cell packing 70 miles-per-hour winds left damage in its wake as it moved from Cabell County through central West Virginia Tuesday afternoon.
The communities of Culloden in Cabell County and Hurricane in Putnam County appeared to be the hardest hit with a number of trees uprooted along with other wind damage. Three large trees on one street in Culloden were pulled up from the ground and in one case a tree pulled up a water line snapping it in half.
“You could hear almost like a really loud roaring sound,” said Marlena Hatfield, of Culloden. “You couldn’t really see much in front of you. So much rain and trees going all the way down.”
Another Culloden resident said there wasn’t much time to prepare for what rolled through.
“It just happened so quick. I think it was like a microburst or a mini-tornado. It was raining sideways and I big loud kaboom and I thought it was thunder but it was actually trees being uprooted and falling onto homes,” he said.
James Wall was sitting on the front porch of his home when the storms came through.
“It blowed down a 28-inch walnut tree there, and one on the other side of the house there,” he said. “Whole lot of limbs off.”
There were no injuries reported.
The strong cell was included in one of a number of severe thunderstorm warnings post one right after the other Tuesday afternoon by the National Weather Service.
At 7:45 p.m, Appalachian Power reported approximately 4,300 of its customers without service in Putnam County and approximately 4,000 in Cabell County.
The National Weather Service said the threat of severe thunderstorms would continue through most of the rest of the work week.