All hands on deck in restoring Monday's derecho damage

PRINCETON — Monday’s derecho left the county in a complete mess with several downed power lines and trees widespread throughout the area

Residents took to Facebook to share the havoc the storm had caused. A variety of photos showed blown trampolines, upended swing sets, damaged homes and countless trees that had either been split in half or completely uprooted — in some cases, lifting up sidewalks, roads and driveways with them.

In Princeton, it blew in with a fury. Most of the south side of Princeton remained without power until mid-morning hours. The power outage sent those residents heading to the restaurants on the north side around dinner time, which had regained power early evening. Long lines were seen at all the fast food restaurants out to the road.

A tree fell around a parked car on an East Thompson driveway, also taking out sections of a newly constructed fence and damaging a pool cover.

A van was covered by a fallen tree on South Church right off Central Avenue.

A large tree was uprooted on the backside of the Family Health Clinic on Park Avenue East.

Park Avenue West was littered with down trees on both sides of the street.

Around 8 a.m. Tuesday, Princeton Mayor Joel Quiram posted on Facebook that about 75% of the power lost in the city had been restored as of 6 a.m. Tuesday morning.

“(Fifteen) electric department employees worked throughout the night to restore power,” he said. “They will continue to work for the next several days. Approximately 15 electric poles must be replaced, five on Linn Street alone.”

Quiram said the street crews worked through the night assisting the electric department in removing trees and limbs.

“The entire crew of 12 employees were in this morning at 4 to begin clearing our streets and curbs. This process will take weeks to complete, so please be patient as we work through this,” he said.

In this post, Quiram also touched on neighbors helping neighbors in clearing tree debris in the aftermath of the storm.

“As I drove around town yesterday, the community outreach was abundant, and knowing Princeton, it will continue today and in the days to come. That is what a true community all about,” he said.

— Kevin Hieronymus contributed to this report.