Houseboats at Lake Kaweah sunk, damaged, set adrift by storm sweeping Central CA
Pictures show boats crammed together, broken pieces floating and some of them on their sides.
FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Thunderstorms shook many people awake on Wednesday morning across Central California.
The wicked weather stuck around throughout the day and caused damage to everything from boats to utility lines.
The storms caused some houseboats to come unmoored at the Lake Kaweah Marina, damaging several of them.
Pictures shared by an ABC30 Insider show several houseboats piled up by the dam.
You can see boats crammed together, broken pieces floating and some of them on their sides.
Action News has learned at least eight boats are under water.
Kenny Ray's boat drifted away when the docks were destroyed. He's thankful it only suffered a few scratches.
He says when he went to check on his boat Wednesday morning, he was shocked by the destruction.
"There's so many boats out there that just sank and the damage to a lot of them is just unreal when you get out there to look at it," he says.
"I didn't expect it at this time of year and not this bad. This was a storm; I don't think any of us was ready for the thunderstorm and the wind and rain we got last night."
According to the Tulare County Sheriff's Office, deputies scoured the boats to make sure no one was inside of them.
Three agencies are working together - the sheriff's office, Fish and Wildlife and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
As far as what's next, officials say the boats will have to dragged out one by one.
Central California saw strong winds through Wednesday.
Across the Valley, PG&E says hundreds of lightning strikes caused damage to equipment causing power outages.
More than 13,000 customers lost electricity throughout the day.
PG&E crews are still working to fully restore power.
The winds also brought several trees crashing down in Fresno, causing costly damage to some residents.
But weather experts say skies will be clearing into the weekend, and summer heat is expected to return.
An Accuweather Alert is in place Saturday through Monday for valley wide triple-digit temperatures.
