Gloucester tornado damage estimated at $7.7M, 162 homes

GLOUCESTER COUNTY

The tornado that tore through Gloucester County on Saturday was an unusual type of twister for southeastern Virginia -- a "long-track" F2, or EF2, as it's known under the new measuring system.

Tornadoes that strike in this region tend to be short-lived -- waterspouts that reach land or the "short spin-up cells" spawned by summer thunderstorms.

Dan Proch, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Wakefield, said Saturday's twister left a trail of destruction that started in Surry County and leapt two rivers before slamming down in Gloucester around 7 p.m., where it raked an 8 1/2-mile path that left two people dead and 60 injured.

"To have one stay on the ground that long around here is definitely rare," Proch said.

Killed in the twister: Perikiles Koutsombinas, 60, and Richard Lynn Ingram, 53.

Koutsombinas, originally from Greece, had been living in Gloucester for a long time, said Yvonne McKeag, his wife's stepmother. When the tornado struck, the couple were at home in their trailer on Hummingbird Lane. Koutsombinas' wife was injured and hospitalized.

Ingram was killed in his home on Shelly Road. His family could not be reached for comment.

Gov. Bob McDonnell requested federal disaster assistance after meeting with residents, officials and volunteers in Gloucester County today. On Sunday, he declared a state of emergency, authorizing state agencies to assist local officials in response and recovery, according to his office.

McDonnell has requested federal individual assistance that, if approved, would make funding available for homeowners and renters in the form of disaster housing assistance and low-interest loans and grants. He also requested hazard mitigation assistance to help local and state governments work to reduce the impact of future disasters by modifying or removing structures from a "hazard area," conducting public education campaigns and restoring wetlands and managing soil erosion.

State officials confirmed two tornado-related deaths in Gloucester, while a third fatality was determined to be a medical emergency. Two Waynesboro residents died in flash flooding, and a Wythe County resident died when a tree fell on a mobile home. A death in Page County is being investigated as storm-related.

The National Weather Service so far has confirmed tornadoes struck in Augusta, Dinwiddie, Gloucester, Halifax and Rockbridge counties. Weather service officials were continuing to evaluate whether other weekend storms were tornadoes. James City, Isle of Wight and Middlesex counties also experienced heavy damage.

The Virginia Department of Emergency Services said that an estimated 430 structures were destroyed or damaged statewide as a result of the storms. The agency has asked local emergency coordinators across the state to submit initial damage assessments by Wednesday morning.

In hard-hit Gloucester County, officials said today that preliminary damage estimates total $7.7 million, with 162 homes destroyed or damaged.

Gloucester County officials said the Red Cross, Salvation Army and other relief groups were assisting people with food, water and shelter vouchers, and county officials stationed trucks in several areas to provide residents drinking water.

Sheriff's officials warned people who aren't residents of tornado-damaged areas to stay away because of the continuing risk of injury by debris and downed power lines. About 1,800 Dominion Virginia Power customers in Gloucester and the Northern Neck were still without electricity this afternoon.

About 2 p.m. today, Virginia State Police announced that Route 33 into Deltaville had been reopened.

Gloucester County school officials canceled classes today after the tornado blew the roof off Page Middle School. School officials say classes for elementary and high school will resume Tuesday. The 580 students who attend Page will attend Peasley Middle School, with Peasley students going to class in the mornings and Page students attending in the afternoons. Officials say they anticipate the arrangement will begin Wednesday.

Emergency officials are expecting rivers to flood in the upcoming days. Flood warnings were in effect statewide through Tuesday evening for the James, Shenandoah, Potomac, Rappahannock and Rivanna rivers, as well as smaller streams.

The Virginia Department of Emergency Services has asked local emergency coordinators across the state to submit initial damage assessments by Wednesday morning.

State Insurance Commissioner Jacqueline K. Cunningham on Monday reminded homeowners to file claims with their insurance providers, as well as document storm damage by photographing their homes and property and saving receipts for repair expenses.

On Sunday, a steady stream of rubberneckers snarled traffic on U.S. 17 to get a look at Page Middle School. Designated as one of the area's emergency shelters, the 50-year-old school suffered the worst of the tornado. Brick walls collapsed, roofs caved in and debris was strewn across a nearby wheat field.

Fences were crumpled and buses flipped over. One lay upright on its frame, without its undercarriage. The storm had ripped off its tires and axles and torn out its engine and radiator.

Classrooms were a jumble of desks, chairs, cinder blocks, computers and school books. In one, missing its roof, a whiteboard read, "Quiz today." In the band room, a bass drum sat in the middle of a floor covered with ceiling tiles and instrument cases.

Outside, football jerseys and red helmets reading "Knights" littered the school grounds. Homework papers fluttered in the breeze.

At a news conference Sunday, schools Superintendent Ben Kiser said neighboring divisions offered staff, transportation and facilities to help Gloucester's schools.

"We're a resilient people," Kiser said. "We're strong. Our families are strong, and our children are strong, and we're going to respond appropriately."

Not far from the school, Gloucester's Coke neighborhood was one of the hardest-hit residential areas. Those who live there reported hearing what sounded like a freight train, before trees began to snap, roofs fly and windows shatter.

Christie Matthews shoved her two teenagers into the bathtub and got on top of them, said her sister, Debbie Brown. The tornado knocked the whole house off its foundation, rolling it over two or three times before smashing it against a line of trees.

The teens were hardly scratched, Brown said, but Matthews sustained two broken vertebrae. Her boyfriend, who also was in the house, was flown to a Newport News hospital, where he underwent surgery.

"It's unreal," Brown said. "You'd never think in a million years someone would survive this. There is a God in heaven."

Matthews had been living in the house for only four months.

Down the road, Gary Jordan said he crouched down in the hallway of his house when the storm hit, covering his border collie, Bam-Bam.

Jordan had been watching the weather forecast and saw on a radar screen the tornado was headed his way. He shut his eyes as it roared overhead. The impact knocked the plasterboard off the ceilings, he said.

Michael Davis was in Nags Head, N.C., when his daughter called to tell him his house had been hit by a tornado. He came home to find two pine trees through his roof.

"That's my room," he said, pointing to an area crushed under a treetop. "The important thing is we're still here. Everything else can be fixed."

On a side street off Hickory Fork Road, Jody Puhlman bulldozed fallen trees with his Bobcat. He lives about five miles away, he said, and brought two workers with chain saws from his local tree service company to help out. They worked for free, helping clear roads, driveways and yards.

"I figured I'm off today," Puhlman said as he waited for more diesel fuel to arrive. "The sooner we can help them get back on their feet, the better everybody'll be."

Pilot writer Lauren King and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Elisabeth Hulette, (757) 222-5216, elisabeth.hulette@pilotonline.com

Joanne Kimberlin, (757) 446-2338, joanne.kimberlin@pilotonline.com