In Chapel Hill, cleaning up and counting blessings after TS Michael
One of the hardest hit areas in the wake of Tropical Storm Micheal was West University Drive in Chapel Hill, not far from the University of North Carolina campus. On Friday, the story there was trees down, lots of trees. The tree-lined streets that add charm to Chapel Hill took on Tropical Storm Michael destructive signature.
Charlie Cleary came out of his house with a neighbor to see the power lines set his oak on fire. Then came a big wind gust.
"We had about five seconds, and he went that way, and I went this way, and the tree came down between us," he said.
Gwen Sancor was inside her house looking for safety when an oak landed on the home.
"I started running toward my living room, and the tree fell and hit," she said.
It's not Sancor's first experience with this type of insurance claim. In 1996, Hurricane Fran put a tree inside her house.
"It did about a $100,000 damage to our house, but what I see here it looks relatively minor compared to that," a grateful Sancor said.
Thursday's wind gusts took out dozens of massive trees here cutting off power to thousands of electric customers.
Outside the Carolina Inn, a small army of workers scrambled to cut down the massive hardwood that leaned against the historic hotel.
Whether big jobs or small, all across Chapel Hill there is work to be done, and it could take days.
"It's a lot of stuff, but we're very lucky also," said Chapel Hill Fire Chief Matt Sullivan. "We've had some damaged houses and of course the power's out, but it could have been a lot worse."
From 6,000 customers without power Friday morning, Duke Energy had about 3,500 still in the dark as the sun set.
