Melrose Area Hit Hard By Early Morning Thunderstorms

MELROSE - Residents in-and-around Melrose are cleaning-up Wednesday from the early morning thunderstorms that came through the area.

We did see a lot of damage at our local golf course, lots of trees down.  We had one building totally destroyed from straight line winds, it's new construction that's called Arce Auto.

City Administrator Mike Brethhorst says a storage shed at the Jenni-O facility, and the local lumber yard, also suffered damage  There's also a lot of downed trees in the area.

Brethorst advises residents, as they work to clean-up the damage, be cautious about who they agree to work with.

We're afraid that people might take advantage of this situation and come into our community and charge some incredible fees to help people remove trees.

He says you should always get a written quote in advance of any work that is done, and you should use local trusted contractors.

He says it is just the latest event to hit the city after the fire that destroyed a downtown Melrose block last September along with the arson fire at the St. Mary's Catholic church in March of last year.

This community is a strong community. I know we're going to come together. We've been tested now three times in the past year-and-a-half to disasters in our community.

Brethhorst says he hasn't heard of any injuries in the Melrose area from Wednesday morning's storm.