'Like a bomb went off': Nevada residents assess damage after storms - East Idaho News
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‘Like a bomb went off’: Nevada residents assess damage after storms

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HENDERSON, Nevada – A neighborhood in Henderson is catching a break after a torrential storm swept through on Friday night. Now many neighbors are getting their first look at the damage.

In front of one Monterey Hills home, a subdivision just east of Eastern Avenue, the storm uprooted a massive tree, taking down part of a wall with it.

“It was pretty violent, even coming from Houston and hurricanes, this one was up there,” Linda and Bill Robotham said.

“It looks like a bomb went off, it really does,” John Shaw said. “It looks like a war zone here.”

Shaw is just one of dozens of homeowners who surveyed the damage on Saturday.

“Been like a hurricane has come through,” Kelly Griffin said. “It’s done damage to our property, our neighbors property. We’ve got trees down, power lines in the street. It’s really a public health hazard. There’s a lot of dangerous situations going on.”

Neighbors were finding parts of their roof or lawn furniture on the road or in other people’s yards.

“It was terrifying to watch pieces of our roof from within our house go flying into the neighbor’s property,” Griffin said.

For some it was the triple threat of rain, wind and flooding.

“The fence, that was the wind. That was the worst wind ever,” Norm Lindhorst said.

“Debris started hitting our house so we got to the center of the house to get away from the windows,” Shaw said.

“For them to say the micro-bursts were 70-80 mph, I suspect it was more in some places,” Robotham said. “It seemed like 100 mph here. It was pretty scary and it looks like some signs of rotation in my yard, I swear, the way some signs are leaning.”

On top of the damage, many neighbors were also without power.

“It’s hot, muggy to say the least,” Griffin said. “It’s uncomfortable. And we’re trying to do everything we can to get the work done.”

“I’m ready for air conditioning, that’s for sure,” Robotham said.

But they said they have seen a rainbow after the storms. The tight community came together even closer, offering each other things like generators and warm showers.

“Met some other neighbors that we’ve only waved to but never met,” Robotham said. “Everybody just out making sure everyone is okay.”

“We’ve all been looking out for one another,” Griffin said. “We had a neighbor bring us coffee this morning.”

And as they clean-up, they’re bracing for the next storm in this unpredictable monsoon season.

“Mother nature is awesome! Powerful and so unpredictable,” Shaw said.

Lindhorst plans to build a wall along his property, but he hopes the City of Henderson will assess the road first.

“The way our land is set up, the street is high than our land, so we get the flood coming into our pool too,” he said.

Neighbors agreed the important thing was that no one was hurt.

As of Saturday night, many were still unsure when they would get their power back. They said they got a range of answers from NV Energy from Sunday morning to three more days.

This article was first published by fellow CNN affiliate KVVU. It is used here with permission.

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