After "Blessing of the Fleet" today, Deltaville was hit by a tornado. It really sounds like a train racing towards you. Having dinner at friend's on Moore's Point, I felt the wind velocity intensify and saw a "white hole" ...not a hole really but the tornado. We literally dove for cover in the basement and a split second later, the tornado touched down on my friend's home and blew the doors, windows out. Looks like a war zone. Much of the contents of the house were strewn across the front yard and huge tree tops twisted off like bread sticks...unreal. Distinct path is easily seen looking northeast. The town had some major damage, came back to Richmond late last night and will go down in about an hour to help out. Boats are fine, friends are account for, no sailing today.

Tornado: Been there, done that...intense.

Note added - I understand when they went back inside the house, the dinner table was still set and the napkins remained in place.

And from Bev Crump today:

Well. It was quite a night. My daughter Cyane and I were in the middle of the tornado in Deltaville last night. Left Taylors Restaurant at about 7:45 -8:00 in heavy rain. As we turned on to Rt 33 we saw trees blowing across the road, many sparks from power lines down and pieces of the church steeple flying past. I turned into the Post Office parking lot and prayed. The noise was deafening and we watched a stand of pine trees 25 yards to our left all sheer of at about 8' level. Fortunately the car was only hit by brush and leaves but we watched big limbs and pieces of houses and debris pass on either side. After about 2 minutes it was all over and all we could see was chaos. I drove through the wreckage weaving around downed power lines and trees all over the road. Power poles sheered of, houses gone, the Zoar Baptist church demolished with roof and 2 walls down. 1/2 mile up Rt 33 no sign of the tornado. When we got to our cottage, we found that our friends who had left the restaurant about 45 seconds ahead of us were in the middle of it. A limb hit their car and smashed in the side and windows. Very shaken up but no real injuries. Back at the cottage we found we had 3 flat tires. How it happened we do not know. Thankful for a lucky miss and did not mind a night without power because we were safe. Never want to go through that again.

Bev Crump