The December wind storm of 2014 won’t be forgotten anytime soon, not on South Whidbey anyway.

Beginning at about 7:30 p.m. Thursday evening, the South End was slammed by winds that downed hundreds of trees, resulting in scores of power outages, an unknown number of blocked roads and driveways, and damaging private property from Clinton to Greenbank.

One unlucky couple, Jon Gulledge and Roberta Gentry, even had a tree smash through the roof of their two-story house on Saratoga Road.

“They’re lucky to be alive,” said Kirk Highberger, who was there helping clear away wreckage Friday morning.

Gulledge and his wife were upstairs at about 8:30 p.m. when they started hearing a series of snapping noises outside. A second later the lights went out. Then, a short time after that, a falling branch shattered the skylight of Gentry’s home-based salon, which is right next to their bedroom.

“I went downstairs to get something to clean it up and then heard a crunch,” Gulledge said.

The fallen tree hit with enough force to snap the ceiling’s main support beam and leave broken drywall and insulation hanging in disarray. Gulledge, a remodeling contractor, said the damages could top $40,000 but that it was too early to tell for sure.

It’s also unclear how this will impact Gentry’s business, as she has a steady stream of customers but now no place to serve them  — people such as Freeland resident Molly Brewer who showed up Friday morning for her scheduled haircut.

“It’s just shocking, totally shocking,” she said. “And it’s really sad for them. At least nobody was hurt.”

When asked what they’d do, Gulledge could only shrug.

“I have no idea at this point,” he said.

The couple’s yard and driveway was a disaster area. The snapping they heard was the felling of about 10 large trees that blocked access to the house.

“The wind obviously came funneling through here, knocking them over one after another, like bowling pins,” said Highberger, who is Gulledge’s business partner.

Neighbors also reported damages; one had a trailer crushed, another a small playhouse. Much of Saratoga Road was blocked by downed trees until late Friday morning.

According to Jon Beck, deputy chief for South Whidbey Fire/EMS, Gulledge’s and Gentry’s home was one of about a dozen that were damaged by falling trees across the South End.

“There’s been more property damage from this storm than any other I can remember,” Beck said.

As of press time on Friday, about 45 district volunteers had responded to well over 100 calls, the vast majority of which were clearing downed trees.

“We probably cleared over 200, easy … and there were so many we couldn’t touch because of power lines,” Beck said. “I know we have a lot of chainsaws that need sharpening.”

‘There’s been more property damage from this storm than any other I can remember.’ — Jon Beck, South Whidbey Fire/EMS

As of 10 a.m. Friday, Walt Blackford, South Whidbey’s community services manager for Puget Sound Energy, said the utility company still had 43,000 customers system-wide without power, totaling 730 outage locations.

“South Whidbey was one of the hardest hit areas, by far,” Blackford said.

He confirmed many communities on South Whidbey were still without power, but could not say for sure when service would be restored. Procedure is to assess damages, and work backwards from the biggest problem areas to smaller ones. Work may continue on into the weekend, he said.

To see a map of areas without power, visit this site.

While the destruction was still being assessed, not just on Whidbey Island but across Western Washington, some news agencies were calling this the worst storm since 2006. Wind gusts clocked at 69 mph at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island were among the highest in the region.

Thursday’s storm came on the heels of a community already saturated with days of rain and high tides. Island County commissioners declared a state of emergency Wednesday after four homes in the Mutiny Bay area were being threatened with floodwaters.

According to Bill Oakes, director of Island County Public Works, an outfall to the beach was blocked with sand and caused rainwater to back up. Workers cleared the sand with hand tools and the water began to drain. He didn’t have an estimate of damages, but said several outbuildings were flooded, and the foundations of the homes were in danger.

Oakes explained that the emergency declaration allows public works employees to go onto private property to fix the problem.

“Contrary to what people think, we don’t go onto private property unless it’s an emergency or we have permission,” he said.

Oakes said South Whidbey had not been hit with any landslides or bluff collapses, which often follow heavy rain. Much of East Shoreview Drive and the intersection at South Woodard Avenue were closed, however, due to a high tide. Water flowed freely over the roadway Wednesday and Thursday mornings, then began to recede.

Matt Nichols, CEO of Nichols Brothers Boat Builders, said the flooding did not interrupt work. It happens about three or four times a year and crews manage the water with sandbags in the northeast corner of the shipyard, he said.

“We’re pretty accustomed to it,” Nichols said.

“The shocking thing is people try to drive through it with their nice cars, but it’s saltwater not freshwater,” he added.

It’s terrible for cars, he said, and should be avoided. Andy Campbell, manager of the Freeland Water and Sewer District, which is headquartered on Woodard, said cars in past years have attempted the road and gotten stuck.

“It’s a river running through there,” said Campbell, adding that parts of the road were submerged by up to four feet of water last year.

The problem has been better since county road crews began closing the road.

With weather this weekend expected to improve, Oakes said the emergency declaration would likely be kept in place until Monday as a precaution.

Whidbey News-Times co-editor Jessie Stensland contributed to this story.