A huge tree that slammed into Dave and Marie Cox's house and destroyed their patio, it's just one of the problems the couple has been dealing with since Wednesday's storm. It also left them with no power and therefore, no way to pump water from their well.
Marie Cox from Merced County said, "It's pretty hard, we're roughing it. We can't take showers, we can't flush the toilet, you can't wash anything. We did manage to brew a little coffee this morning in the garage with the generators, so we're hoping it will get turned on soon."
Several homes just north of Merced were also left with no power or running well water for more than 24 hours. Many of the residents in the rural area were most worried about what that meant for their animals ... including Bill Hodges, who has several horses.
Hodges said, "They will get to a point where they will get sick if they don't have enough to drink and that's always a concern."
Another outage at McSwain School forced administrators to cancel classes for the day. A sign posted on the gates outside said simply, no power equals no school ... that was one equation some students were happy to learn.
Daniel Dabney and his family live right by the campus. Their home was one of several in the area that were also without power until late Thursday morning. So the kids spent part of their day off picking up fallen tree limbs and some of the shingles that flew off their grandparents' house to help pass the time. But now they said they're ready to return to class Friday.
