UPDATE: The National Weather Service in Wakefield, VA has ruled the damage caused Sunday by the severe thunderstorm in Hanover County to be the result of straight-line winds or a microburst. Surveyors of the damage near Mechanicsville in Hanover County conclude winds were in excess of 60 mph, but likely no stronger than 70 mph.
Hanover County Emergency Management surveyed the damage near Mechanicsville, reporting snapped and uprooted trees, which did hit some homes and outbuildings. The area of damage was spread out over a broader area than would be expected from a smaller tornado touch-down.
Although numerous pictures and several videos were sent to CBS 6 showing a rotating wall cloud and what appears to be a funnel cloud, a tornado never materialized at the ground level.
HANOVER COUNTY, Va. (WTVR) -- Some strong storms moved through the CBS 6 viewing area Sunday evening, triggering a tornado warning for Hanover County and leaving thousands in the dark.
CBS 6 viewer Kevin Lockhart captured video of what appears to be an unconfirmed tornado as it was weakening on Route 360. Lockhart said he chased the storm for about 45 min and took this video right at the end of the storm. [Scroll down for the video.]
CBS 6 News’ Joe St. George traveled to southern Hanover shortly after the tornado warning was issued.
The storm caused shopping carts to go airborne outside a Kroger store and caused isolated flooding in neighborhoods.
Nelson Wright had to take his daughter home in his truck after Holly Hills Road flooded. Wright said downed trees and fallen branches were a problem, too.
Police were also called to one Mechanicsville street over fears the creek underneath the road was potentially sinking the road.
And if residents were not affected by flooding in parts of southern Hanover, chances are they lost power because of the storm.
Dominion Virginia Power reported that just over 13,000 customers were without power as of 8:15 in Hanover County. The number of outages was around 2500 for people in Henrico County. That number had dropped to just over 7500 in Hanover and about 600 in Henrico as of 11:40.
The outages created dangerous conditions at busy intersections.
- CBS 6 Interactive Radar.
- Latest warnings
- If you have photos of the storm, click the "submit your photo" button below, post on the CBS 6 Facebook page or email newstips@wtvr.com
