Roof ripped off of Richmond apartment building amid severe weather

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) — The National Weather Service issued a Severe Thunderstorm Warning for several areas in central Virginia Wednesday afternoon, and with the weather came massive damages across the region.

More than 70,000 customers across the commonwealth in the metro Richmond and Tri-Cities areas reported power outages Wednesday. The outages were caused by recorded high winds of up to 60 miles per hour, fallen trees and downed power lines.

Click here for the most up-to-date 8News weather forecast.

One apartment building in Richmond even had its roof ripped off amid the severe weather. The Richmond Fire Department (RFD) was called to the apartment building — located at 808 North Arthur Ashe Boulevard, between West Broad Street and West Grace Street — around 3:45 p.m., according to a first responder on scene.

No injuries were reported as a result of this incident.

The amount of people currently displaced is unknown. However, residents told 8News that they were instructed to remove their belongings from the building.

“I was here with my car, and then my mom with her car, and we got a majority of the stuff out of [my cousin’s] apartment,” one woman told 8News. “We’ve got her bed and her futon covered with a tarp in case there’s water damage.”

Public records show that it was constructed in 1922, and has 12 units. An assessment from the City of Richmond noted that the condition of the building was “normal for [its] age.”

Jonathan McGinnis captured video of the roof being ripped from its base and toppling onto the building next door.

“I just heard this really loud, metallic screech,” he said. “I don’t really have words for it. I was just shocked, super shocked.”

According to RFD, a building inspector and code enforcement were notified after the incident. Dominion Energy was also reportedly alerted to disconnect a service line in the area.