The roadways may be clear of fallen trees, but the cleanup from this week's storm will last a lot longer for some Scotland County property owners.

Tripp Wilson, the owner of Wilson's Farm, said it is likely for his repairs to stretch on for months.

Wilson wasn't at home when the storm hit. He was taking his mother to Fayetteville for outpatient surgery.

He was halfway there when his barn manager, Natalie Norwood, called to tell him about the damage.

He said he just couldn't believe Norwood's account over the phone.

"There's no way," he said. "That's something that happens to other people."

When he heard that no one was hurt and the horses were all accounted for, he decided that there was no need to turn around.

When he got back around 1 p.m., work crews had done a lot to clear the road to his property.

But when he saw the damage, he was flabbergasted.

"My jaw hit the ground," Wilson said.

He said he was in a state of shock, and could do little more than walk around the property and look at the damage.

A lot of work has been done on his property since Monday.

Most of the fallen trees and limbs have been gathered and burned. Much of the tin from roofs has been collected from across horse pastures.

But clearing the debris is just the beginning for Wilson.

The roof of his barn has been ripped off. Other structures, including stables and a hay-storage building, were toppled by the heavy winds.

His house sustained damage from a falling tree and most of the floors flooded.

Wilson said he'll likely have to replace much of the flooring in his home and several ceilings and his chimney from the roof-line up, among other home repairs. And his barn can probably be fixed.

But many of the structures are going to have to be demolished and replaced.

Wilson said the hay he lost alone was worth $20,000. His crest-line fence, another $50,000.

Wilson was still waiting for his insurance claims adjuster to come, but is expecting the final bill to top $500,000.

"All I want is to be able to get it back to what it was," he said.

Wilson is doubtful that the insurance company will cover all his losses, as it is hard to measure the cost of everything that has gone into building and maintaining his farm, or the affects of lost business.

However, he is not expecting his recovery to be quick.

"It will take at least three months" to rebuild, Wilson said. "It will take 30 years to grow the trees back."

Wilson also said there was something distressing Monday besides the storm.

People from as far away as Wadesboro were coming to the neighborhood and looking for work. Apparently they were hoping that with the cleanup would give them a job for a few days.

"That is a sign of the times," Wilson said.

There were so many people that came that Norwood had a sizable stack of business cards before Wilson set foot back on his property.

He said it also brought out the good in others.

St. Andrews Presbyterian College volunteered to take in the horses he cared for at the St. Andrews Annex Barn until his facility is fit for equine life.

Peggy McElveen, the director of the colleges equestrian program, said the St. Andrews Equestrian Center, which is on Hasty Road, was unaffected by the storm so the staff decided to turn their efforts elsewhere.

"The first thing we wanted to do is to help out neighbors and our friend," McElveen said.

According to McElveen, the Annex is used to house horses the college is retiring or that need rehabilitation. As luck would have it, the barn was empty.

"It was just the perfect setting to be able to offer them," she said.

The equestrian staff wasted little time Monday morning.

"We spent all day Monday getting the facility ready for horses," McElveen said.

As soon as the streets were clear enough for a horse trailer to go down to McLeod Road, the barn staff started loading up horses and hauling them to their temporary home.

The St. Andrews veterinarian, Dr. Laura Kellam, is caring for two horses injured from the storm. Both are making progress and are expected to make a full recovery, McElveen said.

While most people seemed happy with a quick response to the storm, some took issue with the state not cleaning up Fox Crossing Drive, a private street at the end of McLeod Road.

Instead of having the government help clear the roadway, the residents were left to do it themselves.

"We're doing it on our own," said Fox Crossing resident Tony Ciarrocca.

Ciarrocca had Robert's Tree Service in his front yard, clearing out downed trees and debris from the microburst.

"Supposedly, I'm responsible for the street in front of my house," he said.

However, if a property owner wasn't in Monday, or if they live elsewhere, then the other residents had to take up the slack to clear the road, Ciarrocca said.

He did give the county credit for helping clear some of the trees from the road on Monday, but he questioned why the state wasn't able to help.

Workers with DOT were just a few streets over at Dornoch Circle.

One of the workers said that they would need clearance from Raleigh to do any work over there.

Meanwhile, they are making headway at clearing the right-of-ways on roads affected by the storm.

"We're cutting and mulching," said Bobby Hunt. He said they have to finish clearing the right-of-ways and remove debris from the road.

He was out there with a crew cutting up and mulching limbs along the road. The mulch is then taken elsewhere and dumped.

Hunt estimated the work crews would need the rest of the week to finish clearing all the state maintained roads and right of ways.

Ciarrocca had another gripe, one that was mimed by Wilson.

Neither believe the damage was caused by a microburst.

Both men said that they had heard of a nearby property owner actually seeing a funnel cloud touch down.

Wilson said that pieces of tin stripped from roofs were wrapped around trees three or four times. Some of the fallen pines show signs of twisting completely around.

"How can a straightline wind make something twist?" Wilson asked.

Ciarrocca said that several things in his yard showed signs of twisting, especially trees.

"Of course, they say it was straightline winds," he said.