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Damage Happens Fast; Cleanup, Not So Much

Daylight Saturday revealed the work to be done in Fuquay-Varina, which took scattered hard hits from stormsthat blew through Friday night.

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FUQUAY-VARINA, N.C. — The storms that came with what had been Hurricane Humberto delivered some much-needed rain and left a mess that businesses and homeowners had to clean up Saturday.

One place that saw scattered damage was Fuquay-Varina.

In parts of town, Friday's winds snapped trees like twigs. They roughed up the rooftop of a commercial storage building and whipped flames through a home on Sanford Avenue.

Firefighters told Toni Currin that it was probably lightning that sparked the fire. She, her son and her husband were away when the storm hit. They returned to find nearly everything destroyed, except for a precious few mementos.

Currin said she “tried to get jewelry out, and that was from when my son was born.”

At the Brighton Manor nursing home, a tree fell and punctured the roof, and water seeped in. A power surge knocked out the fire alarm, power went out, and a backup generator initially did not work, firefighters said. That and the fact that some residents depended on a central oxygen system were enough for officials to order it evacuated.

It took four hours to transport the 63 residents to four other facilities in Fuquay, Chatham County, Lillington and north Raleigh. Administrator John Jerrell said he expected residents to return Monday or Tuesday. In the meantime, families that have any question about loved ones who were at Brighton Manor can call 910-893-5141.

Burdette Gage has the perspective of someone who makes his living cleaning up storm damage.

“It wasn't really widespread. It was sporadic,” Gage said.

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