LYNCHBURG, Va. – A downed power line, possibly live, kept Charles Eivens and WSLS 10 reporter Magdala Louissaint apart from one another as they spoke in front of Eivens' home Monday.
"Just happy no one was hurt," Eivens said.
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Eivens wasn't home when the heavy rainstorm came through his neighborhood, near the University of Lynchburg on Sunday afternoon, but he experienced it elsewhere.
"When I was at my friend’s house, we were up on her balcony watching the lightning and the storm from the balcony cause we can see it from there. And we thought it was cool," Eivens said.
Ten minutes later, Eivens got a call from his roommate that a tree fell in front of the house, knocking the power out for everyone on the block.
"Thankfully, there's no damage to the house but obviously the power lines are all down and so we don't have any power for the next couple of days," Eivens said.
Meanwhile across the street, Becky Gentry and her three kids were making the best of the power outage.
"We slept downstairs 'cause it was too hot upstairs," Gentry said.
The family had an old cord house phone for their landline, a cooler loaded with ice to keep the food fresh and were using bike flashlights Sunday night.
"Flashlight after flashlight after flashlight was not working," Gentry said.
While the Gentrys are getting new flashlights before the sun sets, Eivens will be staying at a friend's house until he can come back home again.
"Just waiting for them to bring the power back so I can sleep in my home again," Eivens said.