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Severe weather rips through Gibraltar

Posted at 1:30 PM, Sep 26, 2018
and last updated 2018-09-26 13:35:29-04

There’s no power, half a roof and few answers this morning outside an apartment complex in Gibraltar.

According to those who live there, it took just a matter of minutes for strong storm winds to rip a section of the roof off and split two trees in half — a nearby dentist’s office now has a large tree lying across the top.

“It was bizarre,” said Henry Peterson, describing watching winds whip trees around before he felt like the windows started to flex.

“I started feeling in the apartment all this pressure,” he said. “Started hearing the roof crack up a bit.”

Residents eventually worked there way outside to find damage throughout the complex, but just a block away it looks like nothing happened. Some think a tornado ripped through their apartment just off West Jefferson near Gibraltar Road, but there’s no confirmation yet.

“The sound of it, it really does sound like a freight train,” said Aaron Povlich. “You hear all the stories all the time, but it does. That’s probably what woke me up.”

Povlich said he was sleeping during the initial part of the storm, but once he woke up there was a fierce noise. Minutes later he was outside with neighbors, one that described a hole in her roof — she could see right through her ceiling.

“Everyone came out and I saw them grabbing their cat, grabbing their stuff.”

She didn’t stick around, but the owners of the apartment complex had a lot more work ahead including sealing up the roof with plastic as a short-term fix.

Others, like Peterson, are still trying to figure out what to do with their damage. He has a dented trunk and missing tail lights on his car. There wasn’t anything left behind, but by the looks of it some sort of debris knocked the glass out of his car and continued on.

“It came pretty sudden,” said Peterson. “You got the alarms on the phone, but we didn’t think it’d be like this.”