PLEASANT GARDEN, N.C. (WGHP) — Thousands of people in the Piedmont have been without power for more than 24 hours.

A strong storm ripped through parts of Pleasant Garden and south Greensboro on Tuesday afternoon. Crews spent all day on Wednesday working.

It is not hard to spot trees that have been uprooted or snapped in half as well as a large number of downed power poles. It is clear that this is going to take a while to clean up.

“We opened the front door and bricks, shingles, part of the roof … wanted to go in as soon as we opened the door,” Jay Griffin said.

He was home with his wife and their pets at their house on Ritters Lake Road when the storm blew past. 

“I knew it was coming this way, but I had no idea it was going to be this bad,” Griffin said.

A massive tree was pulled up from its roots and fell on their house, but crews already removed it from their roof.

“I had no idea that would fall. As old as it is, I thought it would be more firmly in the ground, but mother nature is going to do what she wants,” Griffin said.

Their cleanup work is just getting started, but they are not too concerned about that.

“Me and my wife … are fine. The cats and dog are all fine,” Griffin said.

“As long as the people aren’t hurt, we can always come back and reestablish things,” Lawson Butler said.

He lives on the south end of Greensboro off of Randleman Road. After the storm, he went outside to find a line of trees down at almost every house on his block.

“We came out and saw the damage across the street … then we began to check and make sure everyone was physically OK,” Butler said.

Across town, trees are uprooted, some stop lights are out and several businesses are not able to open because of power outages, including Pleasant Garden Clinic.

The clinic had to reschedule about 30 appointments on Wednesday. Bucket trucks are lined up at staging areas across the community to work on the dozens and dozens of broken poles and downed wires.

“We’ve got a generator. Our neighbors have generators, and we are kind of feeding off of each other. With water, we are able to get into our well. They are able to get water because we tied in water lines to each other. If we need something, they help us, and we help them,” Griffin said.

Neighbors are stepping up, and a community is coming together as the power outages stretch into day two. 

For the second night in a row, many people can’t cook a meal at home. That’s why the Pleasant Garden Baptist Church is stepping in. From 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Wednesday night, they served up hotdogs, hamburgers, chips and cookies.

It’s a little dark inside because there is no power in the building, but they have set up tables and are welcoming anyone to come in not only for some dinner but for some fellowship. It’s been a tough 24 hours for the town, and the church wants to be a place to bring everyone together to talk things out.

“I think this is unexpected for everybody, and I think when things like that happen, you really see the community come alive, and you have neighbors wanting to help neighbors, and that is what we want to be as a church. We want to be a neighbor in our community,” said Johnathon Lawson, the student pastor at Pleasant Garden Baptist Church.

They invited families who are still without power as well as the crews working to get it restored.

“The crews are working hard, and we have seen them in stations all around this area … They are working hard, and we want them to come and have a break … We don’t have power, but our water is working, so we just want to be a resource for the community to come in,” Lawson said.