Sunday storms damage trees, power lines

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Powerful early afternoon thunderstorms brought down trees and power lines across Jacksonville. on Sunday afternoon

Jacksonville Fire-Rescue tweeted that lightning had struck a home on Alpha Street in the Murray Hill area. No one was hurt.

Thunderstorm warnings in St. Johns and Flagler counties expired around 3 p.m.

A second round of storms rolled through Columbia, Union, Bradford and Alachua counties, prompting a severe thunderstorm warning until 4:45 p.m.

No major damage was reported from the second round of storms.

Blake Mathews said those storms were capable of producing large amounts of hail.

In Jacksonville's Lakeshore area, a huge tree fell right into the roadway on Birkenhead Road. Neighbors described the sound.

"I heard something but then I looked. My husband had come in and yelled that there was a tree down in my front yard. I went outside and I was like, 'Oh my gosh," Jennifer Thomas said.

Photo by Bryan Smith

"The box on the side of our house ripped off as the tree fell, " Misty Weisman said.

Weisman rents the home on the property where the tree stood. If the tree had fallen the other way, it would have landed right in her living room.

"We're lucky that it didn't hit the vehicles or the house. I mean, because it would have come right down on my baby, where she was sitting."