Communities across the Virginia Beach area were cleaning up Monday after the severe storm brought at least one confirmed tornado, damaging an estimated 50 to 100 homes, officials said.
City Manager Patrick Duhaney announced state of emergency As the coastal municipality scrambled to shelter people whose homes were damaged on Sunday night, it was ready to send its crews to pick up debris from public streets on Monday morning.
Mike Montefusco, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Wakefield, said the hurricane passed through the Fort Story area on the northeastern Virginia coast shortly before 6 p.m.
Monday’s survey will confirm the exact track of the cyclone.
Although there was damage to homes in the area, there were no immediate injuries.
Emergency crews patrolled the area by bus and took residents who needed transportation to a shelter set up at the Great Neck Recreation Center, where five people were staying as of 9 p.m. Sunday, said Tiffany Russell, a spokeswoman for the city of Virginia Beach. The city said some residents reported gas leaks.
A number of boats were reported damaged after breaking their rigging and capsizing, Ms Russell said. The city worked with the U.S. Coast Guard and the Port of Virginia Maritime Incident Response Team to assess the impact and recover the boats.
The Virginia Beach Fire Department responded to “calls of major storm damage to multiple homes” in the Great Neck area, The department said on Twitter.
Power was out Sunday night in parts of Hampton Roads and Virginia Beach. As of Monday morning, fewer than 300 customers were without power, compared to more than 14,000 on Sunday, according to Dominion Energy’s outage map.
Officials for Virginia Beach canceled Sunday’s final day of the Something in the Water music festival, which was set to be attended by representatives from the National Weather Service.
Weather Service officials remained at the festival site to help handle the storm response, Ms. Russell said.
“Nobody wants to make this call, but we can’t predict or negotiate the weather tonight,” said city manager Mr. Duhani said. said in a statement on Facebook Announcing the cancellation. “Above all it is our responsibility to ensure public safety.”
Victor Manuel Ramos Contributed report.
