In the gray, cool dawn after an evening of destructive weather, Richmond-area residents and officials got their first look Friday at the extent of damage from fast-moving storms.
The sound of chain saws and generators punctuated the moist air as hundreds cleared debris from rooftops, yards and driveways — and thousands waited for their power to come back on.
At the height of the storm’s aftermath, some 160,000 customers in the Richmond area were without power, according to Dominion Virginia Power.
Meanwhile Friday, the National Weather Service ruled out the possibility of a tornado in the massive line of storms stretching from Washington south to Farmville that brought heavy winds and rain to the region Thursday night.
On Richmond’s hard-hit North Side, part of a small tree went down and took out an electrical line in Janet Devoss’ backyard. The damage reminded her of the aftermath of two of the largest weather events in recent Richmond history.
“I would rank it along with Isabel and Gaston as far as destruction in our neighborhood,” she said, shortly after driving her car out from under a branch from a fallen tree.
Almost 100 roads were closed in Henrico County, and nearly 40 traffic lights in Richmond were not working. One person was seriously injured in Hanover County when a tree fell onto a home. Damage assessments are still being tallied, but Richmond Public Schools estimated damage to 10 of its schools totaled $750,000. Chesterfield County was mostly spared. Roughly 8,000 customers were without power there late Thursday night, compared with nearly 95,000 in Henrico.‘Multiday’ effort in city
City officials scrambled contractors and city workers from several departments to the neighborhoods most affected by the intense storms. Mayor Dwight C. Jones’ press secretary, Tammy D. Hawley, said the city expected to deploy 50 crews around the city Friday to address damage.
“All available contractors have been called in,” said 3rd District Councilman Chris A. Hilbert, who represents much of the city’s North Side. “People have been pulled from Parks and Recreation and Public Works to work on tree removal, and Dominion has offered to help as well.”
In Ginter Park, crews used everything from pickup trucks to garbage trucks to collect downed limbs and debris from the side of the road. The city doesn’t collect garbage on Fridays, so those crews were available to help.
Hilbert called the damage devastating but said he was relieved that there had been no reports of injury in the city.
“We’re trying to get this cleaned up to the extent that we can,” he said.
The city said in a news release Friday evening: “Work will continue throughout the weekend, as this is a multiday restoration effort.” The city asked residents to stay off the streets as much as possible during the cleanup.
North Side resident Myra Shook said she heard loud claps of thunder and wind Thursday night.
“The house shook,” she said. “I was scared.”
The storms came on quickly and unexpectedly, she said Friday as neighbors across the street removed items from a home that was hit by a toppled tree.
About 40 traffic lights were out or blinking in Richmond, said police spokeswoman Susan Rowland. At most intersections, road signs alerted drivers about how to proceed — they should be treated as a four-way stop, police in several jurisdictions said — or officers directed traffic at major intersections. Some streetlights were out as well.
Maymont was closed Friday because it lost power. A generator restored some power to the Victorian estate’s nature center to help take care of the fish and other animals inside, two workers said.
In the surrounding parks, trees that once stood tall lay horizontal Friday morning, but none blocked the area’s streets. A Byrd Park pond overflowed its banks as a result of the heavy rain Thursday night.
The damage didn’t stop folks from walking their dogs or pacing through the park. One family was seen having a picnic.
Damage in the counties
Battalion Chief Jason Williams of Hanover Fire-EMS said one person was seriously injured after a tree fell onto a home.
The exact nature of that injury was not available Friday.
“We were very busy through the night with trees down, power lines down, six structures damaged with trees into homes, and one injury from a tree into a home,” Williams said.
From 8 p.m. Thursday to 8 a.m. Friday, Hanover deputies responded to 249 calls for service, including 140 for traffic-related matters such as downed trees, 10 motor vehicle crashes and 10 weather-related assists, said deputy Karen Godfrey.
There were at least two structure fires in Hanover as a result of the storm.
Traffic lights along U.S. 360, Cold Harbor Road and Creighton Road were without power much of Friday.
Henrico officials received more than 300 calls about trees in roadways, said Lt. Chris Eley, a police spokesman. Dozens of streets remain closed across the county.
Steve Butler surveyed a large limb dangling over the road in front of his home on Cottage Cove Drive in the Colonies subdivision in western Henrico as his 19-year-old son, William, took a chain saw to it.
“This is the joy of having a teenage son,” he said.
No tornado
National Weather Service officials spotted what they thought could have been a tornado embedded within the squall line on their radar Thursday night. It turns out that it was not a twister, meteorologist Jeff Orrock said after a team surveyed damage in Goochland, Henrico and Caroline counties.
“It was straight-line winds, not a cylindrical pattern like you’d see in a tornado,” Orrock said.
The cell that stormed through western Henrico and North Richmond originated in Manakin-Sabot, then moved through the Short Pump, Dumbarton and Lakeside areas. Winds speeds averaged about 70 mph, he said.
Another survey in Caroline, where a roof was partially ripped off a home and a barn was destroyed, found no evidence of a tornado. Orrock said wind damage was most intense in Caroline, where gusts reached up to 85 mph.
Along with the damage, the storm seems to have left calm skies in its wake. Today’s forecast calls for sunshine and temperatures in the 80s.
arockett@timesdispatch.com
(804) 649-6527
Twitter: @AliRockettRTD
Staff writers Frank Green, Justin Mattingly, Jim Nolan, Ned Oliver, Brandon Shulleeta and Debbie Truong contributed to this report.
Photo: P. KEVIN MORLEY/TIMES-DISPATCH
