Storm causes damage in New London

NEW LONDON - Some are calling New London a war zone after Friday’s storms.

“The wind was blowing so hard that you couldn't even see the sidewalk from the windows of the buildings,” said Janet Golla of New London.

In less than 15 minutes a thunderstorm scarred the city with flooding, downed lines, and broken trees.

“Due to the result of 70 mile per hour straight line winds we were extremely fortunate that there were no injuries that we know of,” said New London Mayor Gary Henke.

Some of the largest debris fell on this North Water Street home, trapping Josh Stilen, his family and a friend inside.

“The other side there was a window and I jumped out and I had to carry the lady out it was pretty bad,” said Stilen.

Stilen says the home is a total loss, as is his car - but he's thankful to be alive.

“Yeah I still got goosebumps yeah it was bad,” said Stilen.

New London firefighters say they've gotten no reports of injuries, but saw widespread damage and battled several ammonia leaks.

“Hillshire was one of the major ones they had a large piece of their roof that was taken off,” said Assistant Fire Chief Jim Hoffman.

The company had to evacuate the plant.

Firefighters say a number of homeowners will need to do the same.

“I was looking out the front window and you seen a bunch of sparks and like fire it went down and you heard a pop and that was the end of our lights,” said Delores Dean of New London.

Mayor Henke held a news conference around 8:30. He says the state of emergency will be lifted soon. However, he warns it remains quite dangerous on the streets because of downed trees and power lines. He says the storm knocked out power to 3,500 customers at one point, now all but 600 have power.