THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 18, 1996 TAG: 9607170129
SECTION: SUFFOLK SUN PAGE: 03 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LINDA McNATT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SMITHFIELD LENGTH: 79 lines
DOTTIE DASHIELL has lived all over the world, including several Midwestern states famous for tornadoes. But she had to move to Virginia to clear up a lifelong misconception.
``Everybody has always told me that it sounds like a choo-choo train,'' she said after a tornado Friday night ravaged trees and shingles in the Moonefield subdivision where she and her husband have lived for less than a year. ``It doesn't. It sounds like a helicopter!''
The tornado apparently touched down between Riverside Drive and James View Circle at about 10:35 p.m. and lasted for only a few seconds. It left behind uprooted and ripped-off trees, battered fences, separated shingles and some minor roof and window damage.
Dashiell knows all about tornadoes now because her home on Moonefield Drive was in the direct path of the wind funnel born of Hurricane Bertha. It sprang up on the Pagan River and touched land for a few blocks several hours before the official storm landed in Virginia.
``I was watching TV in the kitchen,'' Dashiell said. ``My husband was in bed, reading. All of a sudden, the house began to sing. It sang so loud, I thought it was going to explode.''
Dashiell said she was certain helicopters were flying low over the house. She actually went to look out the kitchen window, and, as she was pulling back the curtain, she remembered telling herself that helicopters wouldn't be flying in the driving rain and wind outside.
``That's when the front door flew open! My husband screamed from the bedroom, `Get down! Get down!' I walked back in the kitchen, and that's when I saw the warning flash across the TV screen: Tornado in Smithfield.''
It was Dashiell's first experience with a full-fledged tornado. And few who did experience it will ever forget. Not only that, said Fred Barrett, a retired river pilot captain, it will take years for the small community to make up for what was lost to the storm in trees alone.
Barrett, who was asleep when the storm struck, said the noise woke him up immediately. It was over, he said, ``before my feet hit the floor.'' Barrett said he checked his home for damage first. When all appeared safe there, he and his wife went outside with flashlights and joined their neighbors who were already on the street.
``The house is all right, but the yard is wiped out,'' Barrett said. ``When we all met outside, we were in awe at what it had done.''
Barrett lost almost a dozen mature trees, including two century-old pecan trees.
Nearby, Judge Robert Edwards and his wife, Vern, lost 11 large cedar trees and a huge walnut tree. Three of the trees fell on the house, Vern Edwards said, but, luckily, there was no major damage to the roof.
``It was like a loud, whining noise,'' Edwards said. ``It only lasted for about 30 seconds. You didn't hear trees cracking, nothing but the whining noise.''
During the impromptu neighborhood street meeting after the big blow, Barrett said that neighbors agreed the entire community was lucky.
Trees can be replaced, and, eventually, they will grow. But property damage was minimal and, ``Thank God, no one was hurt, which was amazing.''
And the incident did bring a bit of unexpected notice to the Smithfield community.
``My son called me from Denver,'' Dashiell said. ``He said, `Mom, I saw your pier on CNN!' He was excited, but he was glad to hear everybody was OK.'' ILLUSTRATION: Kurt Barrett shoots a photograph of damage to the
exterior kitchen at his parents' home in the Moonefield subdivision.
A tornado that ripped through the neighborhood uprooted a tree and
dropped it on the building.
Windsor Tree Service workers David Wages, left, and Fred Carpenter
clear the front yard at the Robert Edwards home in Smithfield.
Residents of Moonefield Drive in Smithfield walk down the street,
checking out the damage to neighbors' homes after a tornado struck
the area Friday night. The motor home was being used by an insurance
company doing damage assessments and by cleanup crews.
Staff photos by
JOHN H. SHEALLY II by CNB