Oak Hill, WV (WOAY-TV): A severe thunderstorm that was warned by the weather service in Blacksburg, Va., ripped through Summers County on Monday. A storm team was sent to determine if the damage was straight-line winds or a tornado.
Large trees were snapped in half and in several cases, trees collapsed into homes. “Our hearts went out to everyone that suffered loss,” said Douglas Butts, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Blacksburg, Va.
The National Weather Service made the trip to Summers County to survey the damage after it had issued a Tornado Warning for the storm Monday evening. The weather service wanted to verify whether it was a tornado that produced the damage or straight line winds.
Butts said, “We found a lot of straight line winds, very strong winds from east of here and all the way over to Talbot; 2000 yards wide damage. And then I think it was like eight miles a mile path where some of the damage was quite impressive. I mean, we had trees blown down, whether they were uprooted or actually broke off and or by the winds on the side of a melon; large chunks of trees. The trees went down all in the same direction. That’s indicative of straight line wind damage from the storm that rocketed through Summers County on Monday.”
Butts went on to say, “What we would want to see in a tornado. So they were all blown down pretty much in an eastward direction.”
We want to emphasize, as well as the National Weather Service, that you should have multiple platforms to receive your forecast and any weather notifications for your area. Have a plan, know what you’re going to do, where you’re going to go. If you get a severe thunderstorm or tornado or even flash flood, one have multiple ways of getting weather information.
The storm even took down road signs on Highway 3 near Hinton. Remember, download the StormWatch 4 Weather app to get the latest watches and warnings for your neighborhood.
