Less than 24 hours after a fierce storm system swept through Central Alabama, toppling trees and knocking out power to thousands, it seems for many, the clean up has only just begun.

In Hoover, one of the areas hit especially hard by damaging hail and powerful winds, residents spent Saturday sawing through downed trees, collecting fallen branches and other debris, and fastening tarps to their punctured rooftops.

Travis Wolfe just had a new roof placed on his home near Aldridge Gardens last year.  He'll have to do it all over again now that an 80-ft. pine tree snapped in half, piercing his roof and living room ceiling with a 10-ft-long limb. 

"At least (the tree removal company) did come and remove the tree," Wolfe said.  "I was just worried the tree was going to cave in the house."

Besides a gaping hole in the roof and ceiling, the impact of the tree's fall also caused stress fractures in other areas of the home.

At the Cedar Brook apartments not far away, where a roof collapsed in the stormy weather, a metal fence serves as a barricade around the damaged building; the twenty people who once called it home remain displaced.

"(I'm) devastated, just devastated," said Jacquelyn Ferriera, who lived in the apartment adjacent to the collapsed roof.  "I've never had anything like this happen to me before."

Ferriera says the American Red Cross is providing her and her family with shelter for the time being.

Off Rocky Ridge Rd., Scott Jackson is thankful to be alive after a pine tree toppled onto a wire, and nearly on top of him, striking his home instead.

"I looked up right as it hit.  I saw branches, that's about the time it hit the wire and the wire just snapped and shot out sparks all over me," Jackson said.

While there's no doubt the clean-up will take a lot of time, effort and money, many remain surpisingly upbeat about the whole ordeal.

"I'm happy today," said Wolfe.  "It's a nice day out.  It could have been worse.  The house is still standing."