Thousands of New Jersey residents remain without power Thursday following powerful storms that tore through the state on Wednesday.

One area hit hard was Haddonfield. Trees fell across Lake Street, blocking the roadway. Weather officials say that the storm was classified as a derecho.

“It was amazing. I was running around the house as quickly as I could to get all the windows shut,” says Haddonfield resident Scott Partenheimer.

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The storms brought very strong winds that toppled trees and telephone poles.

“I grew up in Indiana, so I’m used to tornadoes and everything, and I’ve never seen winds like that,” says Josh Eckert.

Eckert says that he had started mowing his lawn when the storm came through. His garage and two cars were damaged when a tree fell.

On nearby Kings Highway, a tree came down at the Kingsway Apartments, destroying cars parked in its path.

Back on Lake Street – wires and trees were intertwined.

“I opened up the back door and I couldn’t even get it open. The wind and the rain were coming to that side, so I ran to the front of the house and I saw all of these trees and poles go down like all at once. I was really afraid for my neighbor and her daughter,” says neighbor Alice Dahms.

No one was hurt when the trees came down. But thousands are without power across southern New Jersey.

“It’s devastating. There’s a lot of cleanup, but we’re all grateful to be alive,” says Dahms.

Utility companies say that most of the outages should be repaired by Saturday morning.