A severe storm, packing nearly 60 miles per hour winds, tore through the Denver area Sunday, June 5, knocking over trees and damaging several homes and businesses.

The National Weather Service said the majority of the “straight line” winds hit Lincoln, Catawba and Gaston counties around 6 p.m.

Multiple trees collapsed, many falling on structures along N.C. 150 near the Lincoln-Catawba county line.
Homeowner Kenneth Shull estimated around 45 trees were downed near his Iron Station home.

“It just hit, just like that,” Shull said ,snapping his fingers. “Like you cut a light switch on...then you cut it back off.”

At the height of the storm, more than 30 roads were shut down because of downed trees and power lines in the Denver area. The worst damage in Lincoln County seemed to near N.C. 16 and N.C. 150.

Duke Power said about 2,800 Lincoln County residents lost power with 750 more in Catawba County. United Energy reported 1,049 outages in Licoln County and 1,006 in Catawba County. Crews worked overnight to return service to the homes.

A tree almost sheered off the end of Rena Black’s mobile home off N.C. 16.

She hid in the bathroom after winds picked up.

“All I could hear is ‘pow,’ and then water just spreading everywhere,” Black said.

Black doesn’t have insurance. The Red Cross stepped in to help her, but Black worries she’ll no longer have a place to call home.

– WBTV, Denver Weekly news partner