RICHMOND, Va. -- A line of extremely powerful severe storms swept across Virginia Thursday evening. Severe thunderstorm warnings were issued for many counties along with a few tornado warnings.
A squall line of storms with winds in excess of 60 mph tracked east of I-81 early in the evening, then moved quickly across central Virginia after 8 p.m. The severe storms exited out of southeastern Virginia after midnight.
We received multiple reports of wind damage and power outages.
This large and long-lasting wave of storms is known as a derecho. We saw similar systems June 29, 2012 and June 13, 2013.