The March 5 storm that destroyed the boathouse at Ginney Point Marina in Cobbs Creek and caused extensive damage to a private home off Short Lane and the Moton Center in Gloucester, all reported on last week, also wrought havoc in the Dutton area of Mathews.

Charlie and Betty Armistead, who live on Windsor Road, said they were in their den and their son and granddaughter were in the kitchen of their home when they heard “what sounded like a train coming.” Betty Armistead said she looked out the window and the bird feeders were “all of a sudden waving around and hitting each other” and the rain was coming down so hard “you couldn’t see out the windows.”

That’s when a tree hit the roof of the double-wide mobile home, scattering insulation throughout the house, tearing up the furniture, and “knocking our son and daughter from the kitchen into the utility room.”

“It didn’t last five minutes,” said Charlie Armistead, but when they assessed the damage, the roof was gone from the master bedroom and an adjacent third bedroom, and a large pecan tree lay across almost the entire building.

“No one was hurt, thank the Lord,” he said. “If it was three or four hours later, we would’ve likely been in the bedroom.”

The family spent two days taking everything out of the house. At some point, said Betty Armistead, a post about their plight was put on Facebook, and the Locust Grove Church family turned out in droves to help. “I bet there were 50 cars and trucks in the yard,” said Betty Armistead. The Armisteads’ neighbor, Sherwood Daniels, had no fewer than 18 trees uprooted in his yard and the adjacent field and woods. One shed was flattened, another destroyed, and a third damaged. An unoccupied dog kennel was destroyed, as well.

Daniels said it started raining hard, then he heard the roar of the wind and looked out the window to see some plastic buckets flying by. He and his wife went into the hallway until the storm slacked up, after which, “We looked out and couldn’t believe it.” The wind had been so loud, they hadn’t heard the trees crashing all around them.

“It didn’t last but a minute, but it rained hard after,” said Daniels. He said his home sustained only minor damage, with some shingles and a piece of trim blown off.

Down the road, Barbara Callis said she heard the wind and looked out the window, “and it looked like I was in the land of Oz. Stuff was just flying by … going down the middle of the road and across my yard.” She said she felt a sensation that was as if the wind was lifting the roof off the house, and she “just knew my roof was going to fly off.” A neighbor called and told Callis the end of her house looked buckled, but she said it was actually siding that had come off the northern end of the house—the opposite end from where the wind was coming.