MURRAY CITY, OH (WCMH) — An entire town lost power in Monday’s strong storms that hit southeast Ohio especially hard. Murray City is a small village of about 500 near Athens. The Red Cross has set up a temporary shelter to help residents who need power for medical and other reasons. The volunteer fire chief said AEP predicts it won’t be able to restore power until Thursday.

Murray City resident Stephanie Sherritt heard a crack Monday afternoon then watched her SUV turn into a twisted ball of crumpled metal.

“It was a big smash, I mean it just sounded like something exploded. I mean it was bad,” she said.

She was just glad the hollowed out tree didn’t fall on her house. In Brayden Withem’s backyard his barbecue grill and deck were the casualties.

He said the powerful storm rolled in, in seconds.

“About golf ball size hail, probably close to 70 mile an hour winds. It was bad,” said Withem.

Murray City Volunteer Fire Chief Ron Cook said power won’t be back on for days.

“We’ve got 495 people that live in the village and right now all of them are without power until at least Thursday AEP Is estimating,” he said.

It wasn’t all gloom in town. A resident drove a lawnmower through the streets handing out free ice cream because “it would have melted anyway.”

Chief Cook said the folks who live in the village are like family.

“Everybody’s helping everybody,” said Chief Cook.

The Murray City Volunteer Fire Department will double as a shelter until the power is turned back on.