ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, June 10, 1996 TAG: 9606100052
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
NOTE: Lede
A weather system that produced downpours, thunderstorms and violent wind across Western Virginia Sunday tore a new house to bits in Franklin County, caused minor flooding throughout the region, and may have played a role in a freak accident outside the Roanoke Civic Center that sent one man to the hospital.
And the weather folks say keep your umbrellas handy - there's likely to be more of the same.
Parts of Roanoke saw up to 3 inches of rain Sunday, the result of a large, slow-moving storm in the Ohio Valley that's barely creeping toward the northeast.
The National Weather Service posted flood warnings for the Roanoke Valley that lasted throughout the day. Forecasters said the region will probably feel the storm's effects through Thursday.
"I think [Monday] is going to be a lot drier, but there are going to be numerous thunderstorms around," said Steve Nogueira, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Blacksburg.
"What develops may be ever stronger in terms of wind and the ability to deliver some hail. ... I think we're going to have scattered afternoon thunderstorms right through the middle of the week."
An apparent tornado in the Hardy area of Franklin County ripped a large new house off its foundation and blew it to smithereens Sunday about 4 p.m.
Witnesses reported finding insulation in trees up to three miles away from the unoccupied house on North Ridge Road, which needed only paint and carpet before its new owners moved in.
"It was a big house, right in the middle of a field, and now it's gone," said Patricia Hyder, who lives only two doors away. She and her husband found the wreckage when returning to their home Sunday afternoon.
"When I walked outside, I could see it, a twister. It was big," said David Simmons, who lives nearby on Hardy Road. "It came right toward my house, turned, went across the road and over the trees, and landed on that house. It looked like it was blown up by something.
"If anybody had been living there, there was no way they ever could have survived it."
The only thing left of the house was the concrete foundation, which was cracked in three places.
Nogueira said there were no signs of tornadoes on National Weather Service radar Sunday.
"It's not out of the question that some of these thunderstorms could produce some very small, short-lived tornadoes that just would not be seen by radar," he said.
In Roanoke, a wind-whipped gate at the Roanoke Civic Center crashed through the windshield of a late-model Cadillac, striking the driver in the head.
Charles Holland was taken to Roanoke Memorial Hospital after the 4 p.m. accident, which occurred at the civic center entrance on Williamson Road Northeast, across from Rutherford Avenue.
Witness James Tabor of Roanoke said half of the large yellow gate was swinging in the wind as the driver pulled up the entrance ramp. It smashed into the front windshield on the passenger's side and continued through a back window on the driver's side. The impact twisted the steel gate, lifted the Cadillac's front wheel off the ground and scattered glass across the entranceway.
Rescue workers said Holland sustained a gash next to his left eye. Police were investigating why the gate was not secured. A hospital spokeswoman said Holland was being evaluated in the emergency room.
The rain also caused minor flooding and road closures throughout the region, most of which were temporary.
At various times Sunday, parts of more than 14 roads were closed in Franklin County, most of them in the Calloway area, according to D.K. Beatty, the county's resident engineer.
In Roanoke, police closed Wiley Drive along the Roanoke River about noon. For a time, Shaffers Crossing was closed, as was the 900 block of Campbell Avenue Southwest and a section of Peters Creek Road near Cove Road.
The Bedford County Sheriff's Office reported 1 foot of water that quickly receded on U.S. 460.
In Botetourt County, police reported minor flooding on Mountain Pass Road near Blue Ridge.
In Roanoke County, authorities reported flooding on Cotton Hill Road near Merriman Road and a minor rock slide on Catawba Valley Drive that caused no injuries or property damage.
LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ERIC BRADY/Staff. 1. Rescue workers tend to Charlesby CNBHolland, the victim of a freak accident on the grounds of the
Roanoke Civic Center on Sunday. 2. Ernest Murphy had no luck fishing
on the Roanoke River during heavy rain Sunday. The retiree said he
caught only "sticks and trash." 3. Neighbors view damage to a house
on Virginia 636 in Franklin County near Smith Mountain Lake on
Sunday. The new home was almost ready for its owners to move in.
color.