At least 200 injured but no deaths in Suffolk tornado

SUFFOLK

A powerful twister tore through the Hillpoint Farms area near Sentara Obici Hospital late Monday afternoon, destroying homes and businesses, blasting out windows, flipping cars, mangling power lines, and injuring some 200 people – but it was not blamed for any deaths.

The thunderstorm “super cell” that wrought the destruction first appeared in North Carolina and crossed into Virginia about 3 p.m. on what would be a 75-mile trek through Southampton County, Franklin and Suffolk, then over the water near Portsmouth and Norfolk before steering over the lower Eastern Shore.

The tornado that reached down from it and hop-scotched across the area was one of three that hit Virginia. Two separate storm cells had earlier spawned damaging tornadoes in Brunswick County and in the Petersburg/Colonial Heights area.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine declared a state of emergency for all areas damaged by tornadoes , said Virginia Department of Emergency Management spokeswoman Laura Southland. That will allow localities to receive state aid more easily, she said.

Just after the storm in Suffolk, cars sat on top of one another in parking lots littered with glass and debris. Roadways were clogged with

vehicles, and emergency responders struggled to get through. People milled about, seemingly stunned, assessing damage and swapping storm stories.

Across the street from Obici , the entire side of a strip mall collapsed, and most of the top was gone. Two homes nearby also collapsed.

Dale Gauding, a Sentara spokesman, said the tornado did not appear to directly hit the hospital but broke some windows in the emergency room.

Some patients were relocated, but the hospital is fully operational, he said.

“They saw it coming,” said Gauding, who was on his way to the scene. “I’m told that there was some debris.”

A nurse there said about 200 people were treated, most for cuts and scratches caused by broken glass.

There were some reports of a fatality early on, including an unconfirmed report from the state’s emergency management department, but Lt. Debbie George, a Suffolk police spokeswoman, said that was untrue.

George said at least 13 homes were significantly damaged . Gas leaks forced residents in two hard-hit subdivisions – Hillpoint Farms and Burnetts Mill – out of their homes.

Forty-six evacuees had registered at an emergency shelter at King’s Fork High School as of 9:15 p.m. and more were expected, said Joice Whitehorn, assistant director of social services in Suffolk. One couple brought along their dog, Toto.

“There are trees down everywhere, and I’ve seen a half-dozen vehicles flipped over,” said Richard Hicks of Suffolk. “It’s a total mess out here. There are people running around and others just standing around crying. All I can hear are sirens.”

Robert Brinkley, facilities manager of Harrell & Hill Funeral Home in the 2400 block of Pruden Blvd. in Suffolk, said, “There are tops blown off the roofs of many, many houses.”

“There is pretty much a lot of devastation here” in the Sadler Heights section, Brinkley said.

He said the building he was in had also suffered extensive roof damage, but everyone inside was safe.

In the small community of Driver, where the Suffolk tornado first appeared, several buildings already had red “Condemned” signs on the fronts. The tornado took some buildings down and left others untouched. Next door to Harmony House, Historic Arthur’s General Store appeared to be in pretty good shape. Next to it, the variety store was flattened. Police and emergency workers blocked all roads into town. A man was allowed to drive in to fetch an elderly woman.

Police Lt. T. Shelton said he knew of no injuries there.

But four buildings had been leveled, and another badly damaged .

At Norfolk Naval Station, a funnel cloud came ashore at Pier 2, where the destroyer Normandy is moored. The windows of about 30 cars parked near the piers were blown out, but there was no serious damage .

“In the Norfolk area, this is very, very unusual,” said Greg Forbes, a severe weather specialist at The Weather Channel in Atlanta. “It could be the strongest tornado on record in the region.

“It was a well-defined tornado,” Forbes said after watching various videos of the storm and its aftermath. “Some of the damage I’ve seen, it could rate as an EF-3” with winds of above 135 mph.

Bryan Jackson, a meteorologist with the Weather Service in Wakefield, said survey teams will fan out across the area today to assess the damage and determine exactly how strong the storm was on the Enhanced Fujita Tornado Damage Scale.

It’s likely to be a classification rare for eastern Virginia, where tornadoes are generally EF-0s or EF-1s, little more than oddities or nuisances. And those that there are seldom cause more than superficial damage.

“I’m from Nebraska,” where major tornadoes are common, Jackson said. “For this area, this certainly appears to be some major damage.”

Antionette Speller was driving through Suffolk on her way home from work in Smithfield when she saw the twister while sitting at a stoplight.

“I didn’t hear nothing. I looked up and there was the twister right in my face … the next thing I knew I was on the passenger side of the car. I was alone and terrified,” Speller said.

She said she climbed back into the driver’s side and went to a nearby gas station. The two back windows and passenger window were gone, and the car was dented on both sides.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Speller said. “I’m gonna let God handle this. I’ve been blessed.”

Patrick Wilson, Nancy Young, Dave Forster, Linda McNatt, Matthew Roy, Kate Wiltrout, Steve Stone and correspondent Suzanne Choney contributed to this story.

Kristin Davis, (757) 222-5555, kristin.davis@pilotonline.com