RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — Many Virginians are still working to rebuild after a severe thunderstorm left its mark across the state.
Heavy rain, strong winds and hail battered central Virginia Friday afternoon, leaving destruction and power outages in its wake.
Some of the largest-scale action in the greater Richmond region took place in the Tri-Cities area. Petersburg and Colonial Heights were hit especially hard by the storm.
Brooke Hopper had no idea what to expect upon waking up and heading to Colonial Heights in the storm’s aftermath.
“It’s definitely a lot more than I think everybody was expecting,” Hopper said.
Trees scattered the ground, branches rested everywhere, but an overarching problem in the community was the rampant power outages.
Many residents told 8News that they lost power around 3 p.m. on Friday. After a night of darkness — and sweat — relief came for some by 11 o’clock Saturday morning.
However as of around 5 p.m. on Saturday, more than 9,000 Virginians remained without power. Some locals flock to the public libraries, like the one where Hopper works, to seek refuge.
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Colonial Heights resident Sheila Hardy said the tree destroyed her entire back porch. She believes lightning struck the tree, causing it to split and fall between her home and her neighbor’s house. Credit: Sheila Hardy. -
Colonial Heights resident Sheila Hardy said the tree destroyed her entire back porch. She believes lightning struck the tree, causing it to split and fall between her home and her neighbor’s house. Credit: Sheila Hardy.
“One call we got was just somebody — I answered the phone and was like, ‘Colonial Heights Public Library, how may I help you?’ and they said, ‘that’s all I need to know is that you guys are open,’” Hopper reflected.
The frustration and discomfort associated with power outages also turned dangerous on the roads. Stop lights across the community were left not functioning. This caught Dinwiddie resident Skylar Wright off-guard when he drove into work.
“Coming in it was a little scary,” Wright said. “Some of the lights weren’t working this morning when I came in as well. So driving through that is always challenging.”
Community members like Hopper and Wright said they were eager to see central Virginians bounce back.
“I didn’t expect for the significance of the trees to be down and the power to be out, especially here this long,” Wright said. “A lot of places still don’t have power here.”
