Gov. Kaine tours storm damage: 'It’s very intense'

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine toured storm-ravaged neighborhoods in Norfolk and Hampton on Saturday, offering a shoulder to cry on and promises to seek federal disaster aid. Three congressmen - Bobby Scott, Glenn Nye and Rob Wittman - joined the tour with an entourage of state and federal emergency management officials. They assessed the damages and said they would seek Federal Emergency Management Agency aid.

Jackie Lee, a resident of Norfolk's Willoughby Spit, grabbed the governor's hand and pleaded for help.

"I want you to know a lot of people who live down here are low-income. What can you do for them?" she asked.

Kaine again said he would push for FEMA money and also will look at the state's contingency budget.

"I'd like to see the FEMA paperwork by Monday," Lee said.

Other residents walked out in bare feet and pajamas to meet Kaine and have their pictures taken with him.

Kaine said just showing up seemed to lift some spirits.

"There's no substitute for seeing it personally," Kaine said. "It's heartbreaking to see people suffering like this."

Applications to FEMA for aid have already been submitted and more will follow as damage assessments roll in. Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim, who joined the governor on the Norfolk leg of the tour, said he did not yet have damage estimates.

In the city's Ocean View section, Kaine saw the main thoroughfare, Ocean View Avenue, still under water and blocked in one section. He went deep into the neighborhood, stopping on Pretty Lake Avenue where a tree blocked the road and power remained out.

Bonnie Candrilli, who is disabled, cried as the governor approached her outside her home. She's been without power since Thursday. Her small rented home and the car that she had just bought Wednesday were destroyed.

"It was like a river. I lost everything," Candrilli said.

Then, pointing at the downed tree blocking her street, she asked, "Where are they?" referring to the cleanup crew and power company.

Kaine finished the tour at a shelter set up at the Norfolk Fitness and Wellness Center, where 50 to 60 people remained Saturday night.

Over and over, he heard the same words: "I lost everything."

Earlier, in Hampton, Kaine toured three neighborhoods, including Riverdale and Bay-fronted Grandview.

Residents reported tens of thousands of dollars in damage each, and some said they had no insurance to make repairs.

Joseph Nguyen on Gilbert Street showed the governor how high the water rose in his living room. He estimated the damage at $60,000 and said he has no flood insurance. After Hurricane Isabel, when he sustained similar damages, he could no longer afford the premiums.

"I don't know how to get $60,000," he said.

Hampton officials estimated the structure damage in Nguyen's neighborhood at $2.6 million, in Riverdale at $3 million, and millions more in Grandview and the surrounding area.

"It just makes you feel so bad to see people struggling to clean up," the governor said. "There's a cost to it, but there is also the sheer physical effort to do the work. You lose a lot of stuff you don't get back. It makes you feel bad to see it, but then you see everybody helping each other out."

At the end of the day, Kaine could only shake his head.

"It's intense," he said. "It's very intense."

Tim McGlone, (757) 446-2343, tim.mcglone@pilotonline.com