Strong storms hit the area again

**beamer_ball** · July 31st, 2007, 06:31 PM

Anyone got any updates on the damage done in Castlewood by the potential microburst? Heard some chatter on the scanner about, sounded like a lot going on. Something about the Pizza Town building being damaged, a car was crushed and maybe some fatalities, among other things. WCYB had viewer reports of wind damage and power outages. Believe we had some power outages here in Lee too from a storm earlier, haven't heard of anything else though.

**beamer_ball** · July 31st, 2007, 08:09 PM

Man killed when roof blows off restaurant during storm, crushing car he was driving

Tuesday, Jul 31, 2007 - 08:00 PM

Bristol Herald Courier

A man was killed Tuesday evening in Castlewood, Va., when a roof blew off a restaurant during a strong storm and crushed a car the man was driving.

Authorities are not releasing the victim's name until the family is notified.

Around 5 p.m., the roof of Pizza Town and a neighboring flower shop ripped away during the storm. The roof landed on a blue and white Ford Mustang on state Route 58 in front of the businesses, killing the single occupant.

Witnesses said the man was 20 years old and worked in Castlewood.

Traffic lights were dangling near the scene and some utility poles tilted. Scattered damage to some homes was also reported.

See Thursday's edition of the Bristol Herald Courier for more details.

**NotSoSilentBob** · July 31st, 2007, 08:17 PM

Damn, that was a strong burst.

I saw that developing this afternoon, didn't think it would get that bad.

**SWVA-Football** · July 31st, 2007, 09:37 PM

My dad lives in Castlewood (moved to there from Appy several months ago) and I can tell you guys what I saw and what I've heard.

I'll just tell you this much: This is the worst storm damage I've ever seen in my life with my own eyes. Pizza Town was just demolished; the roof had been peeled off and the green "umbrella-like" cover along the front of the store was completely collapsed. The windows were OK and the other stores were not hurt, but the roof was really just a mess and there were boards all over the road. You want to hear something creepy? We ordered a pizza from there at about 1 or 2 PM. [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/crazy.gif[/img]

That's just what I saw from Pizza Town. Let me tell you what else I saw/heard:

- One known fatality (the one mentioned above)
- Home damage (trees fallen on homes, etc.)
- Flooding (TONS of rain, my yard was literally flooded)
- Snapped trees (I'm talking BIG trees snapped and fallen over)
- Fallen/tilted telephone poles, etc.

There is a lot of speculation about what went on.

I've heard that it was a tornado, and I've also heard reports of two possible tornadoes. As we took the backroads due to damage to make it to our home (thank God it wasn't damaged!), I saw tons of damage even way down the backroads, including flooding and leaves all over the road and a few trees snapped here and there.

If you ask me, I think that it could have been a small tornado that blended in with the heavy rain. My dad's girlfriend called several of her friends for updates and one of her friends even said that she'd heard that a truck was literally picked up and set back down on its side.

I seriously doubt a "strong storm" could rip the roof off a restaurant, snap some pretty big trees, bend and topple "utility poles," and cause a fatality.

I'm sticking with my personal belief that a tornado has hit the area.

What really disturbs me is how the damage doesn't add up, though. It's as if the damage resembles that done by a small tornado, but it was so widespread and so random (Pizza Town demolished, while buildings next to it are fine -- trees broken here and there, while others are just fine -- and so on), how could a tornado have had such a crazy path?

What's even crazier is that if you go down the road, you can almost see the "line" of the tornado, which goes down the fourlane and past Pizza Town, then down past Pizza Town a little ways down the fourlane, then it suddenly stops. However, even more disturbing is the fact that the hill leading up to the high school shows damage as if the tornado also went UP THERE. So tell me: How could a tornado change paths like that and be so precise to be on the road? It's as if someone was controlling where the damage was done.

All I know is that I'm glad more people weren't hurt, and this was one hell of a storm. My neighbors were out, and they said that it was the hardest rain and the loudest thunder they'd seen and heard in their lives.

Does anyone agree that it could have been a tornado? Perhaps it just touched down in random places and went back up, only to touch down again? Please discuss .. I'm still in shock by what I've seen today, especially since Pizza Town is about a 1-2 minute drive from my house.

**R0cketer** · July 31st, 2007, 09:43 PM

Crap I ate at Pizza Town Saturday

**SWVA-Football** · July 31st, 2007, 09:44 PM

WOAH I just saw from that Bristol Herald article that the neighboring flower shop also had its roof ripped off.. I had no idea it was THAT bad as I thought only Pizza Town was damaged by the looks of it.

The more I hear about this thing, the worse it gets. I hope we don't hear about anymore fatalities. And I'm glad we were out at Norton at the time and didn't have to sit through that hellish storm.

**R0cketer** · July 31st, 2007, 09:50 PM

Amazes me that didn't get anything really over here or anywhere I was. Thundered a bit, sprinkled but that was it.

**SWVA-Football** · July 31st, 2007, 09:52 PM

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: R0cketer</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Amazes me that didn't get anything really over here or anywhere I was. Thundered a bit, sprinkled but that was it. </div></div>

Yeah it's crazy that such a small area was hit .. even in Coeburn there has been nothing reported, and in St. Paul everything is just fine. I guess it was just a bad day for Castlewood to say the least.

**NotSoSilentBob** · July 31st, 2007, 09:54 PM

I was woken up by thunder around 4:30, got up and checked the radar, noticed a strong cell moving NE to SW. Looked it was going to pass through the St Paul/Castlewood area.

These summer storms are really hit or miss. Much like the wicked storm we had here in Coeburn last week. Hail, wind, buckets of rain in south Coeburn, nothing in Tacoma.

**beamer_ball** · July 31st, 2007, 09:57 PM

Eearlier the police were saying it was a microburst and that's what it sounds like...don't know if they had confirmed anything yet.

Most of the time, when a place is hit hard like that, our first reaction is "it was a tornado", not that it's wrong though but a microburst or any kind of straight line winds can exceed 100 mph. Sure sounded like they were really hit hard by whatever it was.