Families across parts of South Jersey are picking up the pieces after powerful winds brought down trees, damaged homes and left thousands without power. In Mantua, crews and residents continued cutting and clearing fallen trees as families assessed damage to their properties and homes. Roads that were blocked a day earlier were clearer, while Atlantic City Electric said power had been restored to more than 14,000 customers. For some residents, the cleanup is too big to handle alone. Val Luther’s Mantua property was covered in trees and branches after the storm, but her home escaped a direct hit. “We just feel really lucky that nothing landed on the house itself,” Luther said. Drone Force 10 video showed the scale of the damage, including a large tree stretched across Luther’s property. Across Mantua, chainsaws provided the soundtrack of recovery as crews spent another day cutting and clearing debris. For some families, however, the damage extended beyond their yards. Large tree branches crashed into a bedroom in Guy Edwards’ home, leaving holes in the roof and allowing water inside. “The roof should be repaired within a week or two,” Edwards said. Red Cross volunteers are also visiting some of the hardest-hit families and connecting them with resources for long-term recovery. Edwards said the timing of the storm brought back memories of another damaging weather event nearby. “What’s ironic is that it happened five years to the day that a tornado hit two or three miles from here,” Edwards said. The storm’s impact is also delaying the start of school in Mantua. The district said classes will not begin this week as cleanup and repairs continue. This story was originally reported for broadcast by NBC Philadelphia. AI tools helped convert the story to a digital article, and an NBC Philadelphia journalist edited the article for publication. ...read more read less