THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, November 12, 1995 TAG: 9511120109
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
A narrow but intense line of storms riding the crest of an advancing cold front roared east on Saturday, bringing winds of near-hurricane force and torrential rains to Hampton Roads while snow fell in Northern Virginia.
Virginia Power reported that more than 30,000 Hampton Roads customers were left without service by the storm.
The largest number - 14,000 - was in the Denbigh section of Newport News. In Williamsburg, 10,000 customers were affected. Other outages included 8,300 in Suffolk, 6,800 in Virginia Beach, 2,500 in Chesapeake and 500 in Norfolk. Service to all but 10,000 had been restored by early today.
``It was a short blow that sure went crazy,'' said Lynne Bailey, an emergency dispatch supervisor in Virginia Beach.
Suffolk appeared to be hardest hit with numerous reports of trees down, homes damaged, roads blocked, in addition to the power outages.
There were no immediate reports of serious injuries although rescue crews and police were still responding to calls late Saturday.
Lt. Jeff Messinger, a spokesman for the Suffolk Fire Department, said ``downtown Suffolk was hit hard with trees on houses and cars.'' He said a swath of damage extended from Franklin through Driver and that there was a report of a funnel cloud in the Holland area.
Dispatchers received about 30 reports of homes being damaged and ``reports are still coming in,'' he said at 10:45 p.m.
``There are cars off roads into ditches and several accidents,'' Messinger said. ``The fire department is still rescuing people from cars with trees across them.''
At least 10 roads were blocked by downed trees and state and city highway crews were working to clear the debris.
In Virginia Beach, a tree sliced through the upper floors of a two-story home in the 3800 block of Prince Andrew Lane in the Kings Grant subdivision about 9:45 p.m. People were home at the time, but no one was hurt.
``You wouldn't believe it,'' said a witness who declined to give his name. ``The tree has gone through to where the second floor would be. It's Like someone took a crowbar and hit a cardboard box.''
Saturday dawned nicely with a high overcast. At 8 a.m., a mild breeze accompanied temperatures in the 60s. By noon, the mercury was in the 70s, but skies were grayer and winds had turned gusty.
At 1:05 p.m., a strong gust felled a wall of cinder blocks at a construction site near Greenbrier Mall in Chesapeake.
Police said the wall toppled onto scaffolding on which construction crews were working and everything fell in a tangle onto a cement truck. Two workers were injured.
By 4 p.m., skies were dark and moderate rain soon changed to driving downpours and winds were gusting to 30 mph.
And then, about 10 p.m., the heart of the line of storms hit.
The narrow thread of intense storms had stretched from Pennsylvania to South Carolina as it surged east, crossing into the Atlantic Ocean late Saturday.
Winds gusted to 69 mph at the Williamsburg-Newport News International Airport and to 60 mph at the Norfolk Naval Air Station.
``The highest winds lasted only about 35 minutes,'' said Petty Officer Third Class Christine Anderson.
In Loudoun County, a wind gust of 80 mph was reported.
Behind the front, cold weather followed. The shift was so dramatic that ``rain actually changes to a little bit of snow on the backside of the system,'' said Tom Moore of The Weather Channel in Atlanta.
In Northern Virginia, where temperatures had peaked in the mid-60s Saturday, the mercury had plunged to the low 30s by 10 p.m. and it was snowing in Quantico and at Dulles International Airport.
Richmond went from 68 to 44. ILLUSTRATION: GARY C. KNAPP photo
Two people were slightly injured Saturday afternoon when a gust of
wind blew over a cinder block wall of a store under construction at
1500 Greenbrier Parkway across from Greenbrier Mall in Chesapeake.
KEYWORDS: WEATHER STORM DAMAGE by CNB