Petersburg/Colonial Heights/Hopewell Tornado
Shortly thereafter, a strong F4 tornado touched down in the northeast corner of Dinwiddie County, and tracked northeast into the City Of Petersburg, VA. Along a 12-mile-long path, the storm caused $50 million in damage as it struck the historic district of downtown Petersburg, before crossing the Appomattox River into the City of Colonial Heights, VA. The storm, spectacularly visible, crossed busy I-95 (causing no injuries as it did so), struck and damaged Southpark Mall and the local Walmart store, crossed the Appomattox a second time, and then dissipated in the City of Hopewell, VA. From start to finish, this storm caused 4 deaths and 246 injuries. For a number of years afterwards, the remains of a damage swath (sheared, twisted and broken vegetation) through thick trees was visible along the west side of I-95 on the immediate north side of the Appomattox crossing. Perhaps one of the longest lasting reminders of the twister was on the Martin Luther King Jr. Bridge between Colonial Heights and Petersburg. As the tornado had smashed through the historic district, it ripped a traffic light off the bridge, and the snapped pillars remained until the bridge was replaced in 2002. As a result of the damage that occurred here, a State of emergency was issued for Petersburg.
Read more about this topic: 1993 Virginia Tornado Outbreak
Famous quotes containing the words colonial, heights and/or tornado:
“The North will at least preserve your flesh for you; Northerners are pale for good and all. There’s very little difference between a dead Swede and a young man who’s had a bad night. But the Colonial is full of maggots the day after he gets off the boat.”
—Louis-Ferdinand Céline (1894–1961)
“This monument, so imposing and tasteful, fittingly typifies the grand and symmetrical character of him in whose honor it has been builded. His was “the arduous greatness of things done.” No friendly hands constructed and placed for his ambition a ladder upon which he might climb. His own brave hands framed and nailed the cleats upon which he climbed to the heights of public usefulness and fame.”
—Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901)
“The sumptuous age of stars and images is reduced to a few artificial tornado effects, pathetic fake buildings, and childish tricks which the crowd pretends to be taken in by to avoid feeling too disappointed. Ghost towns, ghost people. The whole place has the same air of obsolescence about it as Sunset or Hollywood Boulevard.”
—Jean Baudrillard (b. 1929)