Clean-up begins after severe storms hit Jefferson County, near Lawrence
WILLIAMSTOWN, Kan. — Closer to Lawrence, high winds slammed the small rural towns on Monday just to the north in Jefferson county.
Clean-up started at daybreak in Williamstown, Kansas where multiple homeowners are dealing with downed trees, some of them crashing through roofs.
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Michelle Pearson, who lives on the east side of town, said she feared for her life as the storms rolled through.
“I saw my porch just fly off, and I’m like, I told my dogs, ‘well, we’re not going to make it.’ So we just ran into my room and shut the door and crawled underneath my bed,” Pearson said.
“It was the loudest noise I have ever heard. It’s like being on the train itself, and it was black. I couldn’t see nothing,” Pearson said.
“And one of the beams or something scratched me all up. I didn’t even feel it until this morning,” Pearson said.
Next door, Michael Coleman was able to get a tree off his car as well as off his roof by mid-day on Wednesday.
“They’re all like cousins. They all have to get paid though. They’ve got their own landscaping companies or their tree service. So, it’s not a freebie. I wish,” Coleman said, pointing out the crew of workers in his yard.
His family drove away to find cover ahead of the storm, eyeing the 80-foot trees that would eventually fall.
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“We’ve got to get it tarped before the 8 o’clock rain. And then it’s supposed to rain all day tomorrow too. So if we can just keep it dry on the inside maybe we can stay in it a little bit,” Coleman said.
“Is your plan to sleep here tonight?” FOX4’s Jacob Kittilstad asked.
“We did last night. We did,” he responded.
“What was that like?” Kittilstad asked.
“I have no fan. I’ve got to have a fan for noise. And it was horrible. That’s why I didn’t get any sleep because I need fan noise and no electricity,” Coleman said.
