Residents of North Carolina and Virginia are cleaning up today after storms hit the region, toppling trees and knocking out power to thousands of homes.
The National Weather Service has issued a high wind warning for most of the Hampton Roads and parts of northeastern North Carolina from 3 p.m. today until 4 a.m. Tuesday, as well as a coastal flood warning for Norfolk and Portsmouth from midnight tonight until 6 a.m. Tuesday.
In Norfolk last night, strong winds blew trees onto cars, scattered limbs across yards and roads and knocked off the top of a church on Goff Street. In Bertie County, N.C., two people were taken to a hospital, houses were damaged and trees were blown onto highways, a dispatcher there reported.
A tornado ripped through northwest Bertie County at about 6:30 p.m. Sunday for about 25 miles. Two people in a mobile home on Connaritsa Road were injured, and one remains hospitalized today, said Bertie County manager Zee Lamb. Up to 60 structures including a church were damaged. Schools were closed today.
Also on Connaritsa Road, three other structures were blown down, at least two other buildings were destroyed, three others received major damage and eight more had minor damages, Lamb said.
On Piney Woods Road, seven buildings were destroyed, 11 more received major damages and 11 others received minor damages, he said.
In all, about 1,200 were without power for about 12 hours, Lamb said. Almost all service had been restored by noon today, he said.
Dare County Schools dismissed students today at noon because of flooding in Manteo and on Colington Island, according to Dare County Emergency Management. Northwest winds with gusts up to 50 mph are expected to continue through tonight on the Outer Banks. Additional soundside flooding can be expected.
Two tornados touched down in Currituck County just before 8 p.m. Sunday knocking down trees and blocking U.S. 158 for about two hours.
No serious damage or injuries were reported, said Randall Edwards, spokesman for Currituck County.
A tornado is reported to have passed before 8 p.m. Sunday through a wooded area between Maple Road and Indiantown Road along U.S. 158. The highway, known as Short Cut Road, is the main route between Elizabeth City and Barco. The road was opened again about 10:30 p.m., Edwards said.
Another tornado struck in Jarvisburg around 8 p.m. near the Grave Digger monster truck property and caused minor damage, Edwards said.
In Hampton Roads, several areas saw downed trees and other damage.
Suffolk Fire and Rescue responded to four downed trees, including one on a house, and a few downed power lines between 7:15 p.m. and 8:15 p.m.
“We made out pretty good on this one,” Judkins said.
Isle of Wight County saw minor flash flooding, downed trees and power outages, said county spokesman Don Robertson.
“Unfortunately a couple of the trees did do some minor damage to some homes,” Robertson said.
Dominion Virginia Power said 15,742 customers were without power in southeast Virginia as of 10 p.m. on Sunday. Shortly after 11 a.m. today, fewer than 400 customers in southeast Virginia were without electricity and fewer than 100 of the company's North Carolina customers were waiting for service to be restored.
The chance of showers continues today and into tonight with a high of about 60. The National Weather Service issued a wind advisory this morning for Hampton Roads, areas of northeast North Carolina and the Eastern Shore that will be in effect until from 5 p.m. today until 5 a.m. Tuesday.
A low pressure system is expected to move off the Delmarva Coast this afternoon, then strengthen as it shifts northeast bringing sustained winds of 31 to 39 mph and gusts from 46 to 57 mph, the weather service statement says.
The weather service was warning drivers that conditions could be difficult this afternoon and minor property damage also is possible.
Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel officials are restricting vehicles from crossing the span because of winds gusting up to 47 mph, according to a recorded message. Motorcycles, large pickup campers, camper and house trailers are not being allowed to cross, according to the statement. Vehicles with exterior cargo, empty tractor-trailers and anything being towed also are being restricted. Small trucks with six wheels such as moving vans are being restricted along with rental trucks and school buses. Tractors without trailers and empty tanker trucks are being allowed to cross the span.
Staff writer Dave Forster contributed to this report.
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To Johnson77
This isn't rocket science. You had the tv on and you have the internet. Either read the information at the bottom of the screen or go to weather . com.
There is no reason to inturrupt tv shows.
"Who cares about 60 Minutes
"Who cares about 60 Minutes or Survivor when the apocalypse is nigh? All the other local stations were content to display a weather crawl during normal programming. WTKR is the only station that cares about your wellbeing"
"Apocalypse is nigh?" Who talks like that? I think a couple of these posts are by WTKR employees. LOL.
Channel 3
has no clue...I was about to start a new game; everytime I heard "under the gun" or "they are getting Hammered", I took a shot, after about 20 minutes you won't care what was happening...and it may make you want to go outside and take a picture...
I usually enjoy the programming on Channel 3 but if on my way home I see some clouds, I know it is gonna be a bad night for TV, they will bring us an update every few minutes or put a watch/warning sign on the edge of the screen..
Goodness
It seems like many of you have nothing better to do than to complain about the news covering the tornadoes that were coming through. Whether or not you realize it, the news serves a wide viewing area, so the people who could have actually had to take cover because of a tornado would have needed to know what was going on. So who cares if you missed your TV? Perhaps you guys need to expand your own horizons and not let TV dominate your lives, as has been indicated through several posts on here. For those who do want to know whether or not to take shelter during a storm, they were there to help.
complainers
To those who want to complain about "missing a show", I have to totally disagree with your complaints concerning the news coverage of lastnight's storms. I live on Maple Rd in North Carolina. Due to the continuing coverage, I was able to prepare for the storm and keep my two sons safe when the tornado hit. So sorry, the storm interrupted your show and you had to miss it. Things could've been worse and thank god they weren't, but I was happy to have kept my two young children safe. Sorry for your inconvience. How would you have felt if it was your young children in the path of this dangerous storm?? I guess the safety of human beings is not a priority like your show.
WTKR
They did have a very comprehensive coverage but if I hear them ask people to go outside and take pictures again I am gonna scream!!!! They always caution to be safe but some goober out there will just want a picture and put their lives in danger, stupid suggestions.
Local stations
It's not just WTKR. I missed much of the coverage of the PGA Championship yesterday due to WAVYs "breaking" news coverage of the storms yesterday. This continued all the way into the prime time hours after the storms were offshore. I guess it would be too costly to do these updates during commercial. They also have to justify the new weather gadgets and computers somehow. It's just overkill. I understand the need to keep the public informed and the scrolling message along the bottom of the screen does a more than adequate job of that. We don't need some idiot scrolling over storms, zooming in and out and showing us where it is raining. I can see that tornados are going to be this year's "shark scare" from a couple of years back that dominated coverage on local news stations. Pretty soon they will desensitize viewers with their constant interruptions and nobody will be watching when there is a real emergency.
COLD
Here in Williamsburg at 2:00 pm it is 49 egrees. I haven't seen the sun in the last three days and its just cold, so I have the heat turned back on. I sure do miss that global warming we've been warned about!
Thank God for WTKR's round the clock weather coverage!
I wouldn't have known a thunderstorm was coming without an hour and a half of breathless, non-stop blather from their staff of self important twits. Who cares about 60 Minutes or Survivor when the apocalypse is nigh? All the other local stations were content to display a weather crawl during normal programming. WTKR is the only station that cares about your wellbeing!
I guess we will see no shows
I guess we will see no shows this summer as we tend to get thunderstorms frequently. Oh well, thank god for cable (er, well Verizon for the win).
WTKR
I think they were out looking for bloodied victims and no one was at the station to provide broadcasting to the viewers.
Don't worry WTKR, there should be some violent crimes you can videotape soon. Things speed up for you in the warmer months.
WTKR
Yea, I change the channel as well. Last night we got the WTKR breaking news segment, and spent 20 minutes watching someone playing with a mouse, slinging the viper radar picture all over the eastern seaboard. Zooming in and out so fast, I thought my 10 year old was playing his video game! It had to be the most irriating and uninformative broadcast ever. Heck, even the weather channel with all it's commercials provided more information. Forget the local channels, I use weather underground. That way I can control the speed of the zoom, and slow down long enough to get something beneficial.
Comment on Tornadoes
The picture is great of the lightening. I grew up in the north so tornadoes are nothing new to me. I realize this area does'nt get tornadoes so most people don't know what to do when one is approaching. They are very scary and they move very quickly. If the NWS issues a tornado warning take cover immediately. It's not like a hurricaine where you have a few days to get ready.
Lightning Photograph
That photograph is awesome. Great job!
Storm coverage
Some of the news coverage can be fairly 'breathless', as though there's a disaster literally on our doorsteps. BUT...in all fairness, and given the recent tornado activity which WAS on our 'doorsteps', I think I'll opt to appreciate that the news teams are 'out there', and keeping the general public informed. A friend from Deland, Florida tells me that he had the radio on, listening for storm warnings a year or so ago, when there was tornado activity known to be in the area. Suddenly, the broadcast interrupted, and informed everyone that they had an 8-minute 'window' to seek cover. 6 minutes later an F-3 flattened his neighborhood, and caused an estimated $75K damage to his home! He counts himself fortunate to have survived. Many of his neighbors were not so lucky, and many, many homes were destroyed. It can happen; perhaps we should count ourselves lucky to have the National Weather Service so close by in Wakefield.
the photo in this article is amazing!
Kudos to the photographer!
Really? WTKR?
Don't know about the rest of you, but whenever any type of news comes on WTKR I make it a point to change the channel.
Greedy Dumb People
Oh my GOD, get over yourself. If they didn't do the coverage and you lost your house you would be screaming bloody murder because they didn't tell you what you needed to know. Here is an idea, go online and watch your show another time.
Survivor
is a lousy show anyway, I'd rather see the wtkr stuff...
Tornado watch
Yeah channel 3 is a joke
Breaking news at 2000 is that there may have been a tornado at the Currituck airport
Currituck has an airport?
Also some basketball hoops were blown over in Great Bridge
Alert future mayor Krasnoff