Storm Moves Through Hampton Roads
By Jennifer Latson, Daily Press, Newport News, Va.
Jul. 19–Thunderstorms downed limbs and caused power outages across Hampton Roads late Thursday afternoon before moving out to sea, paving the way for cooler temperatures this weekend.
Although it brought thunder and lightning, wind was the most damaging element of the storm, which deposited little of the much-needed rain across the drought-scorched region. Gusts reached between 40 and 60 mph, said meteorologist James Foster with the National Weather Service’s Wakefield station.
A gust of wind knocked the top off of a tall pine tree in one Newport News neighborhood, causing power lines to snap and spark a fire a block away.
In Hampton, a tree fell on a shed near the corner of LaSalle Avenue and Shell Road, and firefighters put out a transformer fire in the northern part of the city. Elsewhere, officials sporadic power outages and roads obstructed by tree limbs.
The storm brought cooler air on an unusually hot July day. Newport News had a high of 97 degrees and Norfolk had a high of 98, but the heat index was close to 100, Foster said.
The day’s record high was set in 1942, when the mercury reached 101. The average temperature for mid-July is 87 degrees.
A cold front forecast for early this morning means today’s high will be in the upper 80s. Saturday and Sunday will be in the low- to mid-80s.
Thursday’s gusts littered many neighborhoods with debris, but no major damage or injuries were reported.
Near the end of Riverside Drive on the James River in Newport News, in a neighborhood of expansive homes, downed wires set fire to a bamboo thicket and torched an SUV parked next to it.
Tim Butler coaches a swim team at the James River Country Club. He was headed out to a 6 p.m. swim meet when his Dodge Durango caught fire.
Firefighters had trouble putting out the blaze because the downed wires were still live. Like trick birthday candles, they rekindled the fire as soon as it went out.
"We’re lucky the pine trees didn’t catch," said Nancy Burt, who lives nearby. "Hearing the bamboo pop, it was almost like firecrackers. The flames were shooting up and I thought, ‘Oh! The pine trees!’ "
Paige Lawson was inside her home — Tazewell Hall, a historic Williamsburg manor that was moved years ago to Riverside Drive — when she heard the popping and saw the leaping flames.
"I saw that, and I knew how dry it was. We’re so glad we didn’t lose her," Lawson said, speaking of her home. "She can’t catch on fire."
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