Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 9, 1993 TAG: 9306090077
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
About $1 million in damage was done, all in about 20 minutes Friday, to city parks and buildings, city spokeswoman JoAnn Martin said. The rest of the damage was to homes and businesses.
The estimate, the first step in obtaining federal disaster relief, was based on site assessments and surveys of insurance companies and businesses.
Lynchburg schools reopened Tuesday, a curfew was lifted and power had been restored to most households. Now, the city and other localities hit by Friday's hurricane-force winds are beginning to move mountains of street-side debris.
"It's almost like fall in some areas," Lynchburg City Manager Charles Church said of trees that survived the 80-mph winds but were stripped of their leaves by hail.
The thunderstorm also left thousands of piles of torn tree limbs and trunks to remove.
Lynchburg's public service administrator, John Stephens, said the task was "just monumental, more than anyone could imagine."
But the city is getting some help.
Charlottesville and Danville lent Lynchburg trucks with mechanical claws to pick up debris, a logging company provided a heavy-duty mulching machine and several tree services have been hired to help, Stephens said.
Lynchburg had about 50,000 households without power the night of the storm, 80 percent of its households.
Appalachian Power Co. spokesman Mel Harris said he expected power would be restored to all but about 300 customers in Lynchburg by this morning.
Appalachian Power had 112 crews from five states working in Lynchburg Tuesday, he said.
Lynchburg's schools were closed Monday because five schools were without power and officials were concerned about the safety of children walking by downed power lines and around debris to get to the other schools. An 11 p.m.-5 a.m. curfew was in effect until Monday to deter looting.
by CNB