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 bedro...