Durham man stuck at home due to downed power lines, frustrated by slow city response after severe storm

A Durham man is stuck at home Wednesday a day after severe storms ravaged central North Carolina.

Downed power lines forced Matthew Daniels to call out of work on Wednesday. The downed lines are blocking the end of Daniels’ driveway.

On Tuesday along Hope Valley Road near Swarthmore Road, a pine tree came crashing down on power lines, blowing out a transformer and blocking the road.

“I looked outside,” Daniels said. “I couldn’t even see the road from my front door, and that’s when I saw a lightning strike and went inside and that’s when I heard the thud from the tree and the transformer exploded.”

Daniels said he then went outside in the pouring rain.

“The power lines were all down sparking on the ground,” Daniels said. “The ground line was just sparking in the air.”

Nearby resident Betsy Lovell, who lives along Nottaway Road, echoed Daniels’ sentiments about what happened Tuesday. Lovell said downed limbs damaged two cars in her driveway.

“I heard this loud boom from a tree that broke it in two in the back, and I came out, found the tree and saw that both our cars were hit pretty hard,” Lovell said.

Lovell said she’s dealing with both homeowners’ and auto insurance companies now.

“The house was being pummeled with pinecones,” Lovell said. “It sounds like you’re getting attacked.

“And then, all of a sudden, it was this very eerie sound of wind. Then, the boom of that coming down, and that’s when we went running into the hallway.”

Daniels said he’s frustrated by the city’s response time, saying it took hours to get a barricade in place. He said it took 30 minutes for first responders to arrive at the scene even though Durham Fire Station 6 is nearby. Daniels said firefighters were out on another call when the tree came down.

“You need to step it up,” Daniels said. “We all know storms happen. We all know we’re in North Carolina. It’s not the first storm.”

Daniels said the blown-out transformer caused one car to crash into the downed tree.

“He hit up, ramped up like this, teeter-tottered, his wheels hit and pulled him off of the tree,” Daniels said. “And … the guy, he was fine.”

Thousands of Durham residents still don’t have power, some DPS schools closed Wednesday

As of 2 p.m. Thursday, Duke Energy shows there are 4,868 Durham County customers without power.

Durham Public Schools had to cancel classes at four different schools: Merrick-Moore Elementary, Burton Magnet Elementary Bethesda Elementary School and the Southern School of Energy and Sustainability.

A district spokesperson said school leaders are monitoring conditions closely, but it looks like Thursday will be a normal school day.