HARRISON COUNTY, W.Va. (WDTV) – Heavy rain and wind from the remnants of Tropical Storm Cindy battered parts of the state Friday evening. Around Harrison County, damage from the weather system varied from location to location.
Shaw’s Run Road in Clarksburg was hit especially hard. Trees and power lines were down in the area, and structural damage was seen on a few houses along the street. A team from the National Weather Service in Charleston came to the area Saturday afternoon to survey whether or not a tornado had touched down.
On Saturday evening, a tornado was confirmed to have touched down at 7:58 p.m. Friday night. It was located on East South East of Salem. The tornado was an EF1 with a maximum wind speed of 110 mph, path width of 400 yards, and a path length of 4.42 miles.
In Bridgeport, trees and branches fell onto some houses. Joe Spatafore has owned one of these buildings for 50 years. He said he had never seen storms like this.
“This storm is the first time in 50 years that I’ve ever had damage like this,” Spatafore said.
In Monongalia County, a restaurant along Cheat Lake was severely damaged by the storms. Bron Kayal, owner of the Crab Shack Carriba said damages to the restaurant could cost up to $100,000.
“The tornado came in, it just hit the docks first and then it went on my main deck,” Kayal said.
“It took out all the furniture, boats were in the air, docks were in the air,” he said. “It landed a lot of it on the side of my restaurant and brought it all the way to the front.”
These storms are coming just one year after the devastating floods that affected the southern parts of the state.
by Megan Guerra
June 24, 2017
