THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 24, 1995 TAG: 9506240342
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE AND LARRY W. BROWN, STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
An old-fashioned gully-washer inundated parts of Hampton Roads on Friday but bypassed many other areas.
The late-afternoon storm rolled through just before the start of the rush hour and contributed to scores of accidents.
Along the Virginia Beach-Norfolk Expressway, there were several mishaps. One, near Witchduck Road, involved several cars that ran into each other and into a dump truck.
The torrential rainfall in downtown Norfolk and parts of Virginia Beach lasted more than 15 minutes and caused flooding in several low-lying areas. And while the storm was largely an inconvenience for many, it became a costly problem for a few.
``We have water in our bathroom that seeped into the walls,'' said Richard Keel, who went home to find water in his family's basement apartment at Graydon and Blow streets in Norfolk's Ghent.
The discovery of the water in the apartment he shares with his wife, Cherlye, and their 4-year-old daughter and 5-month-old son was no surprise. As he walked home he found the streets near his home under water.
The flooding was unusually heavy, Keel said, because recent sewer line repairs required manholes and sewer drains along the street to be blocked. City workers unblocked the sewer openings shortly after the downpour and the water drained away quickly, Keel said.
``It's just amazing,'' he said. ``It's been upwards to 4 to 5 feet and in a matter of five minutes . . . it's disappearing.''
Meteorologists at the National Weather Service office at Norfolk International Airport measured 0.17 of an inch of rain Friday; 0.07 of an inch was measured at the Naval Eastern Oceanography Center at Norfolk Naval Air Station. At Oceana Naval Air Station, there was no measurable rainfall.
Residents of Graydon Avenue said the flooding there is nothing new; heavy rainfalls tend to turn the area near Blow Street into a lake.
E. Frank DeBerry, who has lived in the 500 block of Graydon for more than a decade, said Friday's flooding was bad - but not the worst he has seen.
``This was the third or fourth time I remember it doing this, and there have been worse,'' he said. ``If it's been raining some prior to a storm and the ground is all soaked, it can come up into the basement apartments.''
Where many apartments have flooded in the past, only a few got wet Friday. DeBerry said at least a half-dozen cars were flooded.
``My car had water up to the hubcaps,'' he said. ``But three cars behind me got badly flooded.''
John Shelby walked home through the high water.
``It felt like I was in a movie,'' he said. ``One of the scenes where the troops are moving across a river carrying their rifles over their heads.'' In his case, all he carried above him was a knapsack. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by PAUL AIKEN, Staff
Dave Jacobson, tuba player for the Old James River Jazz Band, runs
through a downpour Friday afternoon in downtown Norfolk.
KEYWORDS: RAINFALL by CNB