Isaias Pummels SE Virginia; More Than 300K Without Power

HAMPTON ROADS, VA — Tropical Storm Isaias unleashed its fury on southeastern Virginia after making landfall as a hurricane in North Carolina on Monday night, where it smashed boats together and caused floods and fires that displaced dozens of people.

Isaias arrived in southeastern Virginia early Tuesday and continues to pummel the region with heavy winds, rain and multiple tornados. The region bore the brunt of the storm’s 70-mph winds as it exited North Carolina.

As of 11:15 a.m., more than a third of Dominion customers in southeastern Virginia had lost power. In Hampton Roads, more than 250,000 customers are without power. Officials in Hampton Roads also have reported downed trees and property damage, according to the Virginian-Pilot reported.

Overnight, residents of several localities were placed under tornado warnings as Isaias headed north.

Heavy damage was reported in Suffolk, where a possible tornado touched down in the the downtown area in the early morning hours Tuesday.

In Norfolk, the worst damage was on West 38th Street, where the brick wall of First Baptist Church of Lambert’s Point collapsed, the Virginian-Pilot reported. City spokeswoman Lori Crouch told the newspaper the road there was closed until further notice while city crews assess the damage and inspectors would be looking at the structural integrity of the building.

Other damage was limited to downed trees and power lines.

In Newport News, about a dozen homes were damaged by downed trees and six were condemned. In Virginia Beach, Sandbridge Road and Pungo Ferry Road are closed due to flooding, Drew Lankford, a spokesperson for Virginia Beach Public Works, told the Virginian-Pilot.

Nearly 12 hours after coming ashore, Isaias was still sustaining near-hurricane-strength top winds of 70 mph late Tuesday morning, and its forward march accelerated to 35 mph.

“Potentially life-threatening urban flooding is possible in D.C., Baltimore and elsewhere along and just west of the I-95 corridor today,” the National Hurricane Center warned.