DATE: Friday, July 25, 1997                 TAG: 9707250725

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A14  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JUNE ARNEY, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   52 lines

CHESAPEAKE, NORFOLK BUSINESSES DAMAGED

A tornado that touched down in the South Norfolk section of Chesapeake about 1:30 p.m. reduced a car wash to rubble and sent its roof flying, destroyed a lumberyard's storage building, and damaged roofs on several nearby businesses.

At about the same time, a twister hit Norfolk, blowing out car windows at Marine Hydraulics International Inc. before crossing the Eastern Branch of the Elizabeth River and hitting Lyon Shipyard Inc.

No injuries were reported.

Sam Dovak, an employee at Burton Lumber Corp. on Wilson Road in Chesapeake, said she and co-workers saw the tornado coming at them, swirling pieces of metal from the lumberyard as it moved.

``Everyone was panicking and screaming,'' Dovak said. Several people started to walk outside into the storm, she said. Dovak had tears in her eyes as she described rounding up fellow employees and leading them into a closet until the twister passed.

``It was the first time in my life I ever saw a tornado,'' she said. ``I hope it was the last. It was horrible, just horrible.''

Nearby, emergency equipment shoveled bricks that once made up a car wash at Liberty and Commerce streets.

The twister visited several nearby businesses in the area of Liberty Street and Wilson Road before moving on. It damaged roofs at Aard Screen Printing Factory and Townsend Brothers fuel company, both on Seaboard Ave., and at D.D. Jones Transfer & Warehouse Co. Inc.

Into the afternoon, firefighters, inspectors and power company employees fought strong winds and heavy rain to clean up debris and restore order. Firefighters reported seeing two more funnel clouds after they arrived to work the South Norfolk calls.

Robert Walker, chairman of Marine Hydraulics, was crossing the Campostella Bridge when he saw a tornado cross the parking lot of his Norfolk shipyard. The twister knocked over three air conditioning units on the shipyard's offices.

The tornado then crossed the river and flipped over several office trailers at Lyon Shipyard and tore some siding off a warehouse at Moran Towing of Virginia Inc.

MEMO: Staff writer Christopher Dinsmore and photographer Vicki Cronis

contributed to this report. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic

Local sightings of tornados and funnel clouds

For complete copy, see microfilm KEYWORDS: TORNADO WEATHER TROPICAL STORM DANNY HURRICANE

DANNY DAMAGE

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu