Region reflects on deadly '93 tornado during 25th anniversary

DINWIDDIE - If you find a random person on the street and ask them where they were and what they were doing on August 6, 1993, most would be hard-pressed to give you a clear and direct answer of their action that day.

If you ask that same question to most people who were living in the Tri-Cities and Southside Virginia on August 6, 1993, you might get answers that would imply the day had just passed as the memories of the deadly tornado that tore a path of destruction through the region still remains fresh in the minds of many of the area residents 25 years after one of the most active days for tornadoes in the Commonwealth's history.

The day started relatively quiet across the southern reaches of Virginia, as weather records show temperatures were hovering in the mid-70s under partly cloudy skies, but an unassuming warm front moved through Richmond and Henrico and a low-pressure system moved in, the clouds disappeared and brought intense warming throughout the day, providing the fuel needed for a unprecedented weather event that was to unfold in only a few short hours.

Roughly an hour after the storm system produced its first tornado touchdown in the town of Kenbridge in Lunenburg County, which strengthened to an EF-2 tornado on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, meaning it was capable of producing winds of over 130 miles per hour, the most devastating tornado of the outbreak touched down and left an indelible mark on Petersburg and the entire Tri-Cities that remains until this day.

At 1:30 p.m., the tornado found its way to Old Towne Petersburg, known for its stunning red-brick structures that captured the essences of a time gone by. In a matter of seconds, roads like Grove Avenue and Sycamore Street were littered with those same iconic bricks alongside wooden structures from roofs that were torn from buildings like twigs from a tree.

Entire buildings were destroyed, some never to be built again by the EF-4 tornado, leaving openings between some of the city's historic buildings, voids that haven't been filled after two-and-a-half decades after being essentially erased by winds estimated anywhere between 166 to 200 miles per hour. Others, like the train station, only saw partial rebuilds as much of the structure is now teeming with weeds and overgrowth without a roof, which was blown off by the tornado.

As people in Petersburg rushed to help one another, the tornado continued to leave destruction in its wake as it moved through the Tri-Cities, leveling the Pocahontas Island neighborhood as weather officials said the twister heavily damaged or destroyed "over 80 percent of homes" in that community as it moved along the Appomattox River toward Colonial Heights.

From there, some of the most tragic and iconic imagery of the August 1993 tornado was created by the deadly tornado as it set its sights on the then-growing Southpark Mall shopping complex.

Even though the tornado, according to meteorologists, had decreased in size slightly, it remained a power EF-3 storm, capable of winds up to 165 miles per hour. It wasn't long before the tornado severely damaged several businesses, including the K-Mart store that formerly anchored the Southgate Square shopping center along with a nearby strip mall before it would approach Southpark Boulevard and strike the Walmart store, packed with shoppers on an early Friday afternoon.

The account from the National Weather Service as they recounted the tornado spoke to the destruction seen at the store as an entire swath of the building was demolished: "The tornado was as wide as the Walmart was long."

Three women, aged 40, 48, and 56, were killed inside the Walmart store. Their names - Carolyn Gunn, Cheryl Weisheim, and Mae Prosise - are forever memorialized on Walmart's new store, built only a few football fields away from their former home, which now houses a Sam's Club, sharing the same footprint as the old Walmart store.

That same tornado would make its way into Prince George, weakening further to an EF-2 before striking a sand and gravel company, where the building collapsed at the facility, claiming the life of a 28-year old employee, bringing the death toll to four.

At that time about a 15-minute drive away from the epicenter of the disaster, Dinwiddie Sheriff D.T. Adams was an investigator with the county sheriff's department and August 6, 1993, is a day he remembers well.

"I remember when it hit because back then, I was living on Tranquility Lane and it touched down there briefly but it didn't damage anything," he shared. "It didn't damage my home but it did damage several others a little ways down the road from my house."

The tornado Adams witnessed was likely the same tornado that touched down seemingly out of nowhere in Lunenburg County before crossing into Dinwiddie as an EF-2 tornado. According to the National Weather Service, that tornado "damaged a well-constructed house on Route 622, a barn, a house, and some outbuildings on Route 46, as well as the roofs of a briquet plant and a furniture company in Nottoway County" during its 40 minutes of total life, causing nearly $750,000 in damage, but no injuries.

"The next thing I know, I had heard about a tornado touching down in Petersburg and at the Colonial Heights Walmart," Adams said. "I know for a fact everybody from everywhere came out there to help them. It was truly a massive effort concentrated in that area."

Adams continued, "I have lived around here my whole life and the only thing I remember the old people talking about was a hurricane that came through here in the 50s that did a lot of damage. We had never experienced anything like that before."

"The 1993 tornado was truly a wake-up call for not only us, but everyone in the area that anything can happen at any time and you need to be prepared for it," the sheriff added as he spoke from the county's new Public Safety Building, a facility built with emergency response and coordination in mind, having just opened earlier this summer. "We are fortunate to live in this part of the United States, but it's getting worse and it seems to be getting worse every year."

Since 1993, many things have changed across the region, much of Old Town Petersburg has been rebuilt, the Walmart store that became synonymous with the sheer destructive power of the tornado was torn down and moved to a new location nearby and Sam's Club took its place, Southgate Square reopened and continues to host a variety of businesses, and economic growth continues in and around the areas impacted by the tornado.

One thing that hasn't changed is the close bond the Tri-Cities and Southside Virginia share with one another, something that was evident during the response to the 1993 tornado.

"We have always been fortunate in that aspect," Adams said speaking to the relationship being the localities and their desire to help each other during emergencies. "I can remember the days when Southside Virginia Emergency Crew would come to Dinwiddie County and take calls back before the county even had a rescue squad."

"We have such strong communication here and joint assistance from anyone," he added. "I am the only sheriff really in this group of localities as everyone else has police departments and chiefs and, back when I became sheriff, they always including us and I appreciate that because we have always all worked together in this region and I can pick up the phone and call Chesterfield, Colonial Heights, Petersburg, and Prince George and get anything we need. The togetherness we have here in this region benefits the whole Tri-Cities area and that's something that has always existed and something that I have always tried to work toward, to make sure we have that bond."

As the 25th-anniversary passes and the community continues to move on from the deadly tornado outbreak, its memory in both the minds of those who lived through it, young and old and in Virginia meteorological history isn't lost to time. The tornado outbreak is still referred across the region and its final statistics still take the breath away of those who hear the final toll: 256 injuries, four deaths, and a total damage cost of $52.5 million.

For Adams, seeing the imagery on television last week brought him back to that summer day in 1993.

"It brought back so many old memories," he said. "Every time you look at that picture of Old Town [Petersburg]... all of those old, historic buildings blown down and then you look at that part of Walmart that was just gone and you reflect on the people who lost their lives while they were simply shopping and likely didn't know it was coming. It's something you will never forget and it's in your mind forever."

"It's moments like that where those who work in public safety want to see things so, if it ever happens again, we can maybe come together with more advanced technology and save more lives. That's what this is all about," he closed.

For more about the tornado outbreak of August 6, 1993, visit the National Weather Service Wakefield Office's website at http://weather.gov/akq/severe_Aug061993.