A severe thunderstorm caused 16,000 people in the Charlottesville area to lose power on Tuesday as well as significant damage to the University landscape, officials said.
No injuries or deaths resulted from the storm.
At least ten trees were lost on Central Grounds alone, University director of facilities Chris Willis said. The storm caused outages in the University Medical Center, the School of Medicine and a few South Lawn buildings -- including Clark hall -- all of which were repaired overnight.
"From all indications it was your typical garden variety isolated thunderstorm," Charlottesville City spokesman Maurice Jones said.
The morning prediction of a 20- to 30-percent chance of widely scattered storms was proved to be grossly incorrect when a weak storm collided with a much stronger storm right over the University, Climatology Prof. Robert E. Davis said.
The storm mixed heavy rainfall with hail and 50- to 60- mph winds to knock out power in a thirty minutes deluge.
Jones said the Charlottesville Fire Department received over a hundred calls after the storm to remove power lines and put up warning tape. More than 80 streets were closed Tuesday night due to road debris.At 1 p.m. yesterday, 12 streets remained to be cleared.
"There was considerable damage, but we were very fortunate that we didn't have any serious injuries and we're grateful for that," Jones said.
According to Dominion Virginia Power spokeswoman Le-Ha Anderson, more than 3,000 customers were still without power at 2 p.m. yesterday.
Most power was lost due to trees falling across power lines, causing lines to come down, poles and in some cases cross-arms to break. Patrollers labored during the night hours Tuesday and crews began work this morning to restore power to most people. All power was due to be restored by midnight last night, according to Anderson.
Officials warned community members to avoid all fallen power lines.
"People should be cautious walking around trees during the clean up process," Willis said. "Particularly trees or any areas with warning tape."
Power on the Corner District went out during the storm, causing most of the business to close for dinner. Power was operational for business openings this morning.
"We would rather have been open, but that's nature," Jaberwoke manager Ben Galloway said. "We noticed all the crews out there working today, and we certainly appreciate everything that the power company and the lawn services are doing to get this cleared."
Willis said an estimate as to the cost of the damage to University property will not be available until at least next week.
"We're still spending money," he said.
Willis highlighted the large amount of tree damage and said the University Arboretum and Landscape Committee will have to decide which trees to replace and have in the past decided to replace each tree that is lost.
Read More
U.Va. loses over $60 million in federal research cuts
By Bertie Azqueta | 2 days agoThe impacted grants include three from the NIH, seven from the NEH, one from the United States Agency for International Development and four from the State Department.
Department of Education reverses course, awards Federal Executive Institute to U.Va.
By Ford McCracken | 5 days agoThe ED had previously awarded the institute to Charlottesville City Schools.
Students reflect on the life and legacy of Pope Francis
By Bertie Azqueta | 5 days agoAt the University, students shared a range of perspectives on his legacy of reform, inclusivity and his impact on the global Catholic community.
