4-28-08 Suffolk, Va. Tornado Hits City of Suffolk

vbcapt

vbcapt

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Apr 9, 2007
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Today a tornado (possibly an F3) hit the City of Suffolk. Winds were estimated between 135-170 mph. At this time they received Mutual Aid from the Cities of Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Gates County NC & Va. Beach. News sources have reported as many as 200 injuries with the amount of deaths unclear. Many homes & businesses have been leveled. The City's hospital also sustained damage.

Hopefully one of the brothers from Suffolk will get on the site with more accurate & detailed information.
 
Latest estimate is that this was an F-4 tornado, only the 4th one ever recorded in the state of Virginia.  Folks from the midwest are used to this kind of thing (I know, I used to live in Texas AND in Nebraska), but it's practically unheard of in southeast Virginia.  Latest estimate is 75 injuries, only 3 of which required hospitalization, so we were really lucky.  The path, which was more than 35 miles long, only missed my farm in Isle of Wight County by about 2 miles, so I'm breathing a sigh of relief that it didn't hit us, but saying a prayer for those who were directly affected.  It just about wiped out the village of Driver, VA (only half a dozen or so buildings), and later hit Pier 2 at the Norfolk Naval Base, where only minor damage was reported. Fortunately, there were no ships tied up at Pier 2 at the time. Here's a link to a lot of photos:

http://www.wvec.com/perl/common/slideshow/sspop.pl?recid=9485&location=www.wvec.com

Check pictures 27 and 48 . . . yes, that's a pickup truck which was picked up by the storm and thrown INTO a building.

Vbcapt is right, as far as he went, with the mutual aid, but Hampton & Newport News also helped out.

 
Vbcapt, if you can figure out how to get the pic of the tornado I sent on here put it up. My cousin who lives on a farm just on the other side of smithfield took that on on rt. 58 and he has some more of the one that crossed the monitor-merrimac bridge tunnel from his farm.
 
I think it's already posted. I believe that pic is pic #1 from that last post.  Official rating for the tornado is an EF3 135-170mph. Injuries were around 200 total.
 
I live in one of the neighborhoods just south of the tornado's path.  After making sure my family and house were okay, my wife (a RN) and I responded to the scene.  I took several pictures while trying to help Suffolk's Bravest.  You can see the pictures here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/firemansully/SuffolkTornado

 
The tornado passed right by the building I work in at NavSta Norfolk.  Touched down on Pier 2, however there was one Crusier moored up to Pier 2.  They did sustain minor damage to the superstructure area.  Ironically enough, not too long ago, I would have been standing Chief of the Guard or Gate Petty Officer in Charge in that area.
 
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