Downed tree and power lines close Haywood Street in Greensboro

A downed tree and power lines shut down eastbound and westbound lanes of Haywood Street in Greensboro, disrupting local traffic across a key stretch of the city. Greensboro police said the tree and lines came down in the roadway, forcing the closure.

The Haywood Street shutdown was part of a broader set of storm-related disruptions that hit Greensboro streets. Downed power lines also shut down Lees Chapel Road between Laurel Lee Terrace and Byers Road, and another closure affected part of W. Wendover Avenue. Each blocked route pushed drivers off familiar streets and added pressure to nearby roads as the city dealt with multiple hazards at once.

Several Greensboro roads later reopened after being closed Thursday morning because of downed trees and power lines, showing that some of the worst interruptions were temporary but still enough to clog traffic during the day. Even short closures on neighborhood corridors can ripple through the surrounding grid when several streets are affected at the same time.

One of the clearest signs of the storm’s reach came on Lawndale Road, where a tree brought down a power line while thousands of customers remained without power in Guilford County. That incident tied roadway damage directly to utility disruption, turning a traffic problem into a wider public-safety and service issue.

Taken together, the closures on Haywood Street, Lees Chapel Road, W. Wendover Avenue and Lawndale Road showed how quickly falling trees and utility lines can put parts of Greensboro out of service. The immediate result was detours and delays, while the wider impact was a reminder that even short storm bursts can leave major corridors vulnerable.