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Severe weather in Suffolk causes massive flooding, tree crashes through home

Posted at 11:15 AM, Jul 26, 2014
and last updated 2014-07-26 11:15:56-04

Suffolk, Va. - At first glance, it almost looks like a woman is guiding her way into a lake or pool. In reality she's holding onto handrails in her front yard, looking out as her car floats down Clay Street in Suffolk.

"There were six cars on the street and all of them were flooded out,” says Michael Kimmel, who lives on Clay Street.

He says flood waters reached higher than four feet Thursday night. Kimmell says all it took was 45 minutes of significant downpour.

"It looked like a blizzard out here,” Kimmel says. “I mean you couldn't see more than ten feet in front of you."

His jeep is now totaled and you can clearly see the water line where it reached the windows.

"It was comical,” Kimmel says. “I opened the door and it was nothing but water comes pouring out. I was waiting to see a couple fish or crab jump out."

A few miles away in the Pitchkettle Farms neighborhood, a massive section of tree was blown straight down like a dagger, plunging through both floors of a home.

"As big as this house is, this whole house trembled," said Ivan Carr, who was inside with his wife and granddaughter.

No one was hurt, but just 30 minutes later and Carr says it would've been a much different ending.

"If it would've happened at eight o'clock she would've been sitting in her recliner there and I would've been sitting in recliner right here and that thing would've fallen on us," he says.

As you can imagine the clean-up is a mess. A crane had to hoist the tree out and cut it into large logs that now sit by the curb.

"I could be in the morgue today,” Carr says. “Because if I had just procrastinated and stayed in that room another ten minutes. Yep. It would've done me in."