Hampton Roads hit by flooding, lightning in severe storm

NORFOLK

The scene is familiar, but it hasn't been seen in Hampton Roads much this summer: A storm blows in with wind gusts of 60 mph. Heavy rain follows with lightning and thunder. Power is knocked out and cars are flooded.

"But we haven't had much rain this summer," said Larry Brown, a National Weather Service meteorologist. "This just turned into a blob over all of southeastern Virginia."

Thursday, multiple storms moved through all at once. In some areas, it rained over a period of nearly four hours.

The storm's impact depended upon where you were. At Norfolk International Airport, 4.62 inches of rain fell, while about 10 miles south in Chesapeake, there was only an inch.

In Virginia Beach at Oceana Naval Air Station, 3.5 inches were recorded, but at Back Bay and near Rudee Inlet, there was less than half an inch.

"It was a relatively small area that got that much rain," Brown said.

The torrential rain was triggered when the heat and humidity mixed with a front that moved into the area and several thunderstorms " all just sort of merged into one," WVEC-TV meteorologist Jeff Lawson said.

It was shortly before 5 p.m. when a tornado warning was issued for parts of Virginia Beach. Soon, another warning was issued that included Norfolk. The skies grew dark and the wind picked up.

Funnel clouds were reported throughout Virginia Beach but tornadoes did not touch down, Brown said.

The tornado warnings then turned into severe thunderstorm warnings. Lightning and rain began. Flash-flood warnings followed.

Perhaps the hardest-hit area was the Oceanfront. Virginia Beach Battalion Chief Hedley Austin said it looked like the storm stalled there. Standing at 28th Street and Pacific Avenue, he watched the water levels rise in a short period of time.

At the north end, Gerri Knapp grew frustrated with cars that kept driving along a flooded Atlantic Avenue, pushing water into her home near the intersection with 54th Street.

"It's chaotic," Knapp said. "There's no one in control."

Nearby, flooding shorted out the electronic systems in a fire truck at 57th Street. The vehicle had to be towed. Other vehicles were stuck, but Austin and city dispatchers said there were no significant reports of flooded cars.

Virginia Beach had three fires as a result of lightning strikes, though damage was minimal and no injuries were reported.

Norfolk received nearly 200 emergency calls and dispatched emergency crews to 45 locations, said Capt. Mike Marsala, a spokesman for Norfolk Fire-Rescue. Street flooding slowed some responses. Two fires were sparked by lightning and there were two water rescue incidents as a result of flooding. No injuries were reported.

A bout 6:30 p.m. word came that three cars were in high water at the Colley Avenue underpass near 21st Street. Only one was visible when firefighters arrived on scene, Marsala said.

Divers checked to make sure nobody was inside the submerged vehicles. Everyone escaped unharmed. Then about 8:30 p.m., another call came for the Colley Avenue underpass, this time on the 24th Street side. Two people were rescued from their flooded car.

The Virginia Department of Transportation reported standing water blocking several lanes of interstates throughout Hampton Roads. No tunnels were closed during the storm though.

The majority of other emergency calls were to report downed power lines or blown transformers.

At its peak, Dominion Virginia Power had more than 13,500 customers without power. By 11:15 p.m. that number was down to about 6,600 outages. Shortly before 5 a.m. today, the number had dropped below 1,600.

Elsewhere, wind knocked down trees in Chesapeake and Suffolk and pulled off a rubber roof membrane from a vacant business in the 300 block of East Washington Street in Suffolk.

By 9 p.m. the rough weather passed. A pleasant weekend is expected, with temperatures in the high 80s and low 90s.

Lauren King, (757) 446-2309, lauren.king@pilotonline.com