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Beth and Mark Albrecht were inside their residence at the corner of Custer and Gates roads, when a large tree in their front yard came crashing down on the house.

"I was standing at the bathroom window when it fell in front of me," said Beth Albrecht, who had been quickly closing windows to keep out the rain.

"The water was going in every direction," she recalled.

The tree ended up on the roof of the house and attached garage, with broken limbs blocking the garage door and the two cars parked inside.

About a half-mile to the east on Custer Road, a tree fell in the front yard of the David Steenhuizen residence, causing minor damage to a car and covering a work van parked in the driveway, said Sandusky Fire Chief Todd Hillman.

Debby and Arlen Hacker of Sandusky were driving north on N. Sandusky Road during the same time period - around 3:30 p.m. - heading to the city airport when they were caught in the storm.

"It just rocked the car back and forth," said Debby Hacker. "We couldn't see, I had to pull over...It was just a white-out (of rain), almost like snow. I couldn't find the airport driveway to pull in."

She pulled the Jeep into a residential driveway across from the airport until the storm passed, and then observed the damage at the airport: a 45 foot pine tree had fallen next to the terminal building, and there was damage to bay doors in another nearby building. There was no apparent damage to hangars or airplanes, according to airport manager Joe Allen. A weather instrument at the airport showed the wind speed at 65 miles per hour.

Sandusky firemen were also sent to a residence just north of the airport, where trees were down and an electrical pole was broke, said Hillman.

He also said fire departments in Elk Township and Brown City were dispatched to broken power poles during the two to three hour period when two storm systems moved through the area.