NAYLOR’S BEACH, Va. -- Sparkling waters, a beautiful view -- just a few reason families love to spend their days enjoying the summer winds on Naylor’s Beach.
The devastating aftermath left after an EF-3 tornado shrieked through and pummeled the area only underscores how powerful winter winds can be.
John Christopher rode out the storm in a downstairs closet.
“It happened real quick,” he said. “I came out of closet, looked up and nothing was there. Looked next door and there was nothing there. Holy smokes, it's bad.”
Heather Craven says her parents got heard the bad news from a neighbor, who called them in Richmond to tell them the house was gone.
“Dad looked at the caller ID and said to the neighbor ‘I hope you're in the closet,’” Craven said. “He said ‘I am in the closet but I have bad news, you’re top two floors are gone and so are mine -- I'm getting rained on right now.’”
Days after the storm, Craven said her neighbors finally got back in to assess the damage.
Emergency operations Chief Greg Baker says before that could happen they called in the National Guard to secure the area.
“Because we had very expensive items -- people's jewelry, cash, guns and fire arms were just thrown about in the field,” Baker said.
“We had to secure the area and keep it until we were able to make it safe,” he added.
Now Craven's parents will rebuild, hoping to make their home even better than the one they lost. It could take months, but Craven says that's okay, because the most important things they have are intact-- their lives.
“No one was injured down here,” she said. “That's absolutely amazing.”
