MERRILLAN FIRE CHIEF RECOUNTS SCARY NIGHT
Thursday, July 15th, 2010 -- 9:45 AM
As bad as it was, the fire chief in Merrillan, on the Clark-Jackson County line, says the damage from yesterday?s storms could have been a lot worse."We could actually see funnel clouds over mainstreet," recalls Al Lunderville. "I could see at least two. Some guys said they could see at least three. There was rotation. They weren't picking up anything off the ground. There were a few leaves, that was about it. You could see the rain rotating in them, that's how you could see them."
LAbout two dozen residents and people passing through town sought shelter at the fire station as the storms hit.
Thankfully, they don?t think those funnel clouds touched ground, but there was enough wind to blow over trees and cause some damage to the area.
"Mostly it was trees down. At one place, we had a tree on a camper. A tree on top of a car. The Corner Bar on mainstreet, it went right over that. A pine tree got pushed over on top of a house," Lunderville says.
The city of Merrillan was without power until around 10 p.m. last night.
Lunderville says the Hatfield area suffered a lot more damage, which is being assessed this morning.
Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.