Damage from 2 Va. tornadoes tops $8M.

6:50 PM, Apr 11, 2011

Written by Meta Pettus

PULASKI, Va. (AP) -- Bobby Dunford's instincts took over when he saw the black cloud jump over the ridge near his house last Friday.

In the seconds it took him to turn and run from his front porch, the sky had turned yellow-green and the howling wind hurt the 72-year-old Dunford's ears.

"All of a sudden it was so dark you couldn't see anything. I just pushed my wife down and laid on top of her," Dunford said Monday while surveying the damage to his neighborhood.

The black cloud was a tornado -- one of two to hit the Pulaski and Draper communities early Friday night as residents were settling in for the weekend.

The horseshoe-shaped hollow where the tornado hit is filled with modest bungalows owned by older residents. On Monday the area was the scene of heavily damaged houses, trees split in half and downed power lines. A section of Dunford's roof was crushed when the roof from a neighbor's crashed on top of it.

The neighbor survived, but her house is unlivable and she wasn't home Monday to hear the sounds of crews working with chain saws to clear away trees and remove debris.

The destruction in Dunford's neighborhood is part of the estimated $8.5 million in damages caused by the tornados. The National Weather Service says the storms packed winds in excess of 100 miles an hour. Eight people were hurt, but none killed, officials said.

Gov. Bob McDonnell has declared a state of emergency for the area, allowing state resources to be used in the recovery effort.
Bob Spieldenner with the Virginia Department of Emergency

Management said state crews were traveling with representatives of the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Monday assessing the damage. The survey is necessary to determine if the area qualifies for federal disaster aid.

The tornados were a first for 85-year-old Lelia King. She was standing in her kitchen when the storm blew in her window, then her front door.

"I ran to close the door, not knowing, not knowing," she said.
The wind picked her up and pushed her from the living room into an adjacent bedroom -- leaving her shoes behind.

"I don't know how I got off that floor," she said. "I didn't get a scratch. Not a cut, and I walked on that glass barefooted. But God is good."

By LARRY O'DELL

Associated Press

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