RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) - When CBS 6 crews pulled up to the 700 block of North 1st Street in Richmond's Jackson Ward neighborhood Saturday morning, the power was still on, but it was hard to understand how or why. That’s because large sheets of metal once attached to the roof of a row home nearby, were hanging onto power lines like clothes hanging out to dry.
“We heard this loud noise, but nobody knew what it was till we came out here,” said John Booker who lives two doors down from the home that lost its roof. Booker said he could relate – because during the last major storm that hit Jackson Ward, his home had lost its roof. This time though, he was left unscathed.
Starr Coe, who also lives nearby the home, said she was not only shocked to see the roof on the power lines, she was amazed that she had not lost power. She says she lost it during Monday’s strong winds and was certain there’d be a repeat.
“With all the heat, I have asthma, so it was rough. I had to stay in, but when the lights went out Monday they didn’t come on till Tuesday, so they didn’t come on for 24 hours,” Coe said.
By sunrise the building inspector had already been out to the home and told the couple who lived there that they had to leave and gave no timetable for when they’d be allowed to return.
Sharon North with Richmond’s public works department said city crews had been out all night working to clear storm debris from “priority one” streets, like Broad Street and other major arteries, and were adding more people into the mix as the day unfolded.
