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8 THE ROANOKE TIMESFROM
The storm system that hit Glade Spring blew over some tractor-trailers and tossed others at the Petro T
hit business in Glade Spring,” Sut-phin said.
He said at least six employeeswere at the truck stop when thestorm came through . They hid inback rooms and showers until itpassed.
The Washington County Sheriff’sOfce said Thursday afternoon thatit had concluded its rst round of search-and-rescue operations.
Four storm-related deaths wereconrmed in Washington Countyby 6:20 p.m., said Virginia StatePolice spokeswoman Corinne Gel-lar. Their names were not releasedbecause their families were beingnotied, she said.
The four deaths happened atseparate locations in the GladeSpring area, Gellar said. Two werein separate homes, one in a localbusiness and the fourth in a wreckon Interstate 81.
The crash was reported about10:40 a.m. on I-81 north at mile
marker 26, Gellar said. A car rear-ended a tractor-trailer stopped infront of it. The car’s driver was pro-nounced dead at a nearby hospital.
Parts of the highway had beenobstructed by debris from thestorm, and trafc was moving andstopping. Northbound trafc wasreopened by noon.
Heavy damageWhile the businesses at Exit 29
were hit hard, they certainly weren’talone.
Numerous houses were blownoff their foundations, with otherssustaining signicant damage. TheGlade Spring Middle School wasalso heavily damaged, WashingtonCounty Sheriff Fred Newman said.
Numerous tractor-trailers on I-81 and at the Petro Truck Stop wereoverturned and damaged . Severalwere strewn along the roadway,blocking trafc on the interstateand parallel U.S. 11 for hours .
By late afternoon, meteorologistsfrom the National Weather Servicein Blacksburg had conrmed a 2.8-mile-long tornado path in Smyth
County near Chilhowie. The pathwas up to a half-mile wide, andits intensity was rated EF-3, withmaximum winds of 140 mph.Smyth County ofcials estimated$2 million to $2.5 million in damage,including ve unroofed houses andthree overturned mobile homes.
‘A close-knit community’
Newman said that WashingtonCounty, along with help from statepolice, had implemented a curfewin the Glade Spring area from 8 p.m.to 6 a.m.
Checkpoints were establishedto secure damaged homes andbusinesses, with only residentsallowed in.
“This is a close-knit community,which has made our search-and-rescue efforts much easier,” New-man said.
“Neighbors here look out forone another and have been able tohelp us identify who was home atthe time the storm struck. We trulyappreciate the outpouring of sup-
port from our residents and thosein neighboring jurisdictions in thistime of need.”
Whitney Manning and AnneliseShelton were in their town house onOld Monroe Road in Glade Springwhen the storm system rolled inabout 10:30 p.m.
After wind and hail started,the power went out, but the twowomen, who are seniors at Emory& Henry College, continued doinghomework by ashlight.
Then the windows began to rattleand the house began to shake.
“So we got down into the laun-dry room,” Manning said. “The doorwas shaking and there was a lot of pressure, and the living room andkitchen windows just popped.”
“So we were like on the oorholding each other,” Shelton said.
When they nally tried to checkthe damage to their town house,they couldn’t get out and had towait for friends to help them outa window. The second story of thetown house was gone.
They went back to their houseThursday afternoon to see if they
could nd any of theielry or pictures. Thvided a place to staycare packages.
Outside a businesway, several emplotogether to begin rproperty.
“The whole bacbuilding is gone,” saigeneral manager of shop.
He said employeto work, “and they’veget it all cleaned upback in business, geour customers.”
Kimble said somewere blown from thea mile away.
“I’m from Floridathrough four hurricnever seen anythingsaid.
Les Elswick, a Gredent, said by phone tenced quarter-sizedstorm, which causeddamage, but his concwas with a close fri
of the west and southwest.Any one of those storms
could have dropped a house-leveling tornado at any time.The warnings were warrant-ed, even if there have been noconrmed reports of torna-does in or very near the NewRiver or Roanoke valleys.
I’m quite certain there’s apatch of twisted trees some-
where in the national forestland of Bland or Giles orMontgomery counties wherea tornado touched down. Ahunter or hiker will nd itsomeday and wonder whathappened. Be thankful itdidn’t land in Pearisburg orBlacksburg — or even Pulaski,again.
Unlike a snowstorm thatburies everyone’s driveway,an ice storm that bendseveryone’s trees or a hur-ricane that blows on every-one’s property for hundredsof miles, the cruel irony of atornado outbreak is that it isabsolutely devastating for arelative few in narrow paths,while it’s a thundery, breezyconversation starter for mosteveryone else.
While Glade Spring twohours down Interstate 81dealt with wind-scattereddestruction Thursday, mostof Southwest Virginia expe-rienced a sunny spring dayof fresh breezes and emerald
leaves. Even the vast majorityof Alabamans woke up with
fully intact houses Thursdaymorning — though hundredsof thousands have no power.
It was truly “tornadoweather” in SouthwestVirginia, but why? Why sooften this year? Why has thisbecome such a violent springin the South and East?
We can start with La Nina.The streak of cooling seasurface temperatures in thecentral Pacic that is warm-
ing fast now, likely to dis-solve entirely in a month ortwo, has been loosely linkedto spring weather patternsincreasing severe storms eastof the Mississippi River.
But that one climatic fac-tor can’t be broad-brushedto explain this destructivespring, which now containsone of the deadliest tornadooutbreaks in U.S. history.
The jet stream patternsince the cold weather brokein early February has favoreda deeply southerly dipping jetstream over the West beforeturning northeastward. Thatupper-air ow has carriedone low pressure system afteranother into the Ohio Valleyor Great Lakes.
Being on the east side of that counterclockwise ow,we get a surge of stickywarmth from the Gulf of Mexico. Westerly winds highin the atmosphere bring drierair above that sultry air, andthe low’s rotation sweeps in
cooler, drier air that formsa solid boundary with the
warm, moist air. Lift alongthat boundary leads to tow-ering storms.
If the low tightens enough,we get winds switching fromsouth to southeast at the sur-face, a vector of wind thatcreates spin as it blows intoeastward or northeastwardmoving storms.
With so much warmthand humidity to feed on, therotating storms moving out
of Tennessee simply didn’tlose steam or start linkingtogether into lines — lesscapable of rotation — as theymarched across the Virginiastate line. So they kept spin-ning well past most people’sbedtimes.
But, even though it messedup our sleep, we can be thank-ful that the storms did arrivethat late, rather than at theday’s peak heating in the midto late afternoon, when theywould have been even moreenergetic.
Otherwise, fewer of uswould have a place to sleeptonight.
Weather Journal runs onMonday, Wednesday and
Friday.
FROM 1
MYATT: Daytime storms may have been even stronger
Hope Cannon holds he on Thursday. The formthey’d come to the sta
KYLEGREEN| TheRoanokeTimesMembers of the Disaster Relief Feeding Unit, part of the Disaster Relief Virginia Baptist MissionBoard, cook food for volunteers outside a truck stop in Glade Spring, Va.
For more weatheridbits, go tohe Weatherournal blog
KYLEGREEN| TheRoanokeTimes
Broken trees, damaged trucks and downed power lines ll U.S. 11 in Glade Spring on Thursday aftera tornado tore through the town .
FROM 1
TORNADO: McDonnell
KYLEGREEN| TheRoanokeTimes
Lisa Grimsley walks through the debris of PizzaPlus, the restaurant she and her family owned.
AssociatedPressMegan Cleary walks through the remains of herhouse Thursday.
at blogs.roanoke.com/ weatherjournal/ .
FRIDAY, APRIL 29, 2011 9PAGE 1
ERIC BRADY | TheRoanokeTimesruck Stop early Thursday. The station was the epicenter of the damage in Southwest Virginia. At least six employees were at the truck stop when the storm hit.
ir clothes, jew-e school pro-and gave them
s on Lee High-yees workedepairs to the
kside of thisid Dan Kimble,
the Peterbilt
es showed uphelped try to
so we can gett rolling, help
of the trailerslot nearly half
and I’ve beenanes, and I’ve
like this,” he
en Spring resi-hat he experi-
hail during thesome vehicleern Thursday
iend who by 5
p.m. said her brother was still miss-ing. Thankfully, some 30 minuteslater, the man had been located.
Junior Hamm, the pastor of Glade Spring’s Landmark BaptistChurch, said that though the roof was in ruins, there was extensivewater damage and columns hadbeen destroyed, church service willtake place Sunday morning — thefellowship hall was still intact.
When the tornado hit the areashortly after 1 a.m. , Hamm, hisdaughter and his wife took refugein the basement. Media outlets keptthem informed, which was impor-tant, since a storm of this type is farfrom the norm, Hamm said.
“It’s just one of those thingsyou’re not accustomed to,” he said.
‘Nothing like this bad, ever’Even those responding to the
tragedy were shocked.Walter Warren of the Saltville
Rescue Squad said he was calledout to the Glade Spring area at 1:50 a.m.
“I’ve never seen anything likethis before, nothing like this bad,
ever,” Warren said.He pointed to several tractor-
trailers that had either been pushedover by high winds or picked up andtossed elsewhere.
One tractor-trailer was blowninto the Iron Skillet, the restaurantinside the Petro Truck Stop .
President Barack Obama calledGov. Bob McDonnell to express hiscondolences over the loss of life anddestruction in the state.
A total of ve people died in Vir-ginia storms, with another fatality inHalifax County on Wednesday eve-ning. Tornadoes were also reportedin Augusta, Shenandoah, Goochlandand Prince William counties.
Obama said that Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolita-no will work with the governor andstate ofcials on federal assistanceand recovery efforts.
McDonnell is scheduled to visitWashington County today to viewthe damage, a spokesman said . Thegovernor has been coordinating thestate’s disaster response and was
getting continuous updates fromstate agencies, his ofce said.More help will come from else-
where in Southwest Virginia.Fireghters from Roanoke, Roa-
noke County and Salem were calledto help the rescue and clean up effortin Washington County.
The reghters, members of aregional rescue team, are trained torescue people from collapsed build-ings, caves, trenches and connedspaces.
The team of 17 people wasrequested by the state and willdepart this afternoon, according astatement from the Roanoke Fire-EMS Department.
The Washington County Sher-iff’s Auxiliary has set up a shelterwith food and lodging at the KingCenter on the Emory & Henry Col-lege campus. Those in need of aride or more information can call276-944-6835.
Staff writers Amanda Codispoti,Michael Sluss, Lerone Graham,Jorge Valencia and Kevin Myatt
contributed to this report.
FRANKLIN
ROANOKE
BEDFORD
FLOYD
ROCKBRIDGE
MONTGOMERY
PATRICKHENRY
BOTETOURT
CARROLL
FRANKLIN
ROANOKE
BEDFORD
FLOYD
ROCKBRIDGE
MONTGOMERY
PATRICKHENRY
BOTETOURT
CARROLL
FRANKLIN
ROANOKE
BEDFORD
FLOYD
ROCKBRIDGE
MONTGOMERY
PATRICKHENRY
BOTETOURT
CARROLL
RockyMount
SalemBlacksburg
Martinsville
Bedford
Roanoke
Radford
Lexington
Buena Vista
Galax
RockyMount
SalemBlacksburg
Martinsville
Bedford
Roanoke
Radford
Lexington
BuenaVista
Galax
RockyMount
SalemBlacksburg
Martinsville
Bedford
Roanoke
Radford
Lexington
BuenaVista
Galax
P R O P E R T Y
D A M A
G E *
M A G N I T U D E
I N J U R I E S
Regional tornadoes, 1950-2010
CARROLLCOUNTYAug. 1, 1965 F1 5 $25,000A ug. 21 , 19 77 F 2 0 $ 25, 00 0Ju ly 4 , 1 97 9 F 1 0 $ 25 0, 00 0May 6, 20 09 F 0 0 $10,000FLOYD COUNTYJa n. 2 3, 19 99 F 1 0 $ 12 ,0 00May 3, 2009 F 0 0 $10,000HENRYCOUNTYJ ul y 1 2, 1 96 4 F 2 3 $ 25 0, 00 0Aug. 17, 1994 F2 10 $9 mi l.Ju ne 10, 19 96 F 1 0 $ 80, 00 0M ar. 20 , 1 99 8 F 1 0 $ 20 0, 00 0Sep t. 17 , 2004 F2 4 $53 .8 mi l.Ma y 8 , 2 00 8 F 1 0 $ 157, 00 0Oct. 26, 2010 F 0 0 $5,0 00FRANKLIN COUNTYAug. 9, 1978 F 0 $3,000June 9, 1996 F2 0 $0Sept. 17, 2004 F0 0 $0May 8, 2008 F1 0 $9,000MONTGOMERY COUNTYMa r. 30 , 1 987 F 1 0 $ 2. 5 m il .June 11, 1998 F0 0 $0PATRICKCOUNTYS ep t. 2 9, 1 99 9 F 1 0 $ 60 ,0 00S ep t. 29 , 1 99 9 F 1 0 $ 13 0, 00 0July 7, 2005 F1 0 $0
BEDFORDCOUNTYJune 9, 1996 F1 0 $0Ju ly 1 5, 1 99 6 F 1 0 $ 90 ,0 00Ju ly 1 5, 1 99 6 F 2 0 $ 14 0,0 00A pr. 28, 20 02 F 1 0 $ 1. 2 m il .Apr. 28, 2002 F2 1 $ 3 mil .Sept. 17, 2004 F2 0 $0
ROANOKE,ROANOKE COUNTY,SALEMMa y 1 8, 19 53 F 2 0 $ 25 ,0 00Apr. 4, 1974 F2 0 $2.5 mi l.A ug . 5, 20 03 F 1 0 $ 10 0,0 00J un e 3 , 2 00 8 F 0 0 $ 35 0, 00 0BOTETOURT COUNTYJune 11, 19 55 F1 0 $3 ,0 00ROCKBRIDGECOUNTYJune 5, 1975 F0 0 $0
P R O P E R T Y
D A M A
G E *
M A G N I T U D E
I N J U R I E S
*Damageestimates arenot adjustedfor inflation.
81
81
77
64
TheRoanokeTimesSOURCE:NationalClimaticData Center
Intensity ratings for each tornado range from F0 (very weak) toF5 (totally devastating) and are based on damage surveys byexperts after each storm.
NOTE: Fulldata not yetavailable fortornadoes atPulaski andDraper earlierthis month.
B L U E
R I D G
EP A R
K W
A Y
KYLEGREEN| TheRoanokeTimesr 16-year-old daughter, Kourtne, at the Petro Truck Stoper Roanoke resident is married to a a trucker and saidtion to see if they could help.
o visit hard-hit area today
HOW YOUCAN HELP The Virginia Department ofEmergency Managementsays the best way to helpin a disaster like Thursday’stornadoes is to makea cash donation to anorganization participatingin relief efforts. Somenational and internationalorganizations are providingrelief efforts across theSouth:AMERICAN REDCROSS — U.S. mobilephone users can textREDCROSS to 90999 toadd $10 automatically to
your phone bill. Or visitwww.redcross.org or call1-800-733-2767.CATHOLIC CHARITIES — The charity acceptsdisaster donations if youcall 1-800-919-9338 orvisit www.catholiccharitiesusa.org .SALVATION ARMY — Thecharity is providing food,drinks and spiritual supportto victims. To donate, textGIVE to 80888 to donate$10 through your phonebill. Call 1-800-725-2769,or visit disaster.salvationarmyusa.org .SAVE THE CHILDREN —The relief effort providingfood, medical care andeducation to children isaccepting donations onlineat j.mp/kbE3A6 . People canalso call 1-800-728-3843during business hours.WORLD VISION — TheChristian humanitarianorganization focuseson children, aiming tolessen the emotional andpsychological damage thatmany children suffer duringcrises. To donate, visitwww.worldvision.org orcall 1-866-562-4453 .
Other ways to helpn If you would prefer tocollect goods, conrman organization’s needfor specic items beforecollecting.n If you plan to volunteeryour time or services,volunteer wisely. Beforetraveling to an area to help,nd out if, where and whenyour help might be needed.
Sources:VirginiaDepartment of Emergency Managementand The
AssociatedPress
VIRGINIA KILLERTORNADOES1890-2010
April 24, 1896, 4:30 p.m. n 3 dead; 5 injuredn The tornado movednortheast at Salem,destroying a bowling alleyand a home.
May 2, 1929, 12:55 p.m.n 13 dead; 100 injuredn A tornado at Rye Cove,15 miles northwest ofGate City, Scott County,destroyed the school.
May 2, 1929, 3:30 p.m. n 3 dead; 30 injuredn Homes and a schoolwere torn apart as thefunnel passed throughWoodville, RappahannockCounty.
May 2, 1929, 8:15 p.m. n 6 dead; 15 injuredn Deaths were at LaGrangeand Weaversville in aswath across Culpeper andFauquier counties .
May 20, 1938, 3:30 p.m. n
3 dead; 2 injuredn A house was destroyedsouth of Farnham,Richmond County, killing amother and two children.
April 24, 1944, 6 p.m. n 3 dead; 6 injuredn Homes and barns weredestroyed on seven farmsnear North View and SouthHill.
Sept. 30, 1959, 4:30 p.m.n 11 dead; 9 injuredn Ten people died near Ivyin a frail duplex that hadbeen used as the applepickers’ bunk house.
Aug. 6, 1993, 12:30 p.m. n 4 dead; 246 injuredn Virginia’s rst conrmedviolent tornado (EF-4)cut across the historiccommercial district ofPetersburg.
Source:The TornadoProject
