ISLE OF WIGHT COUNTY, Va. (WAVY) — After a night of severe thunderstorms, residents in Isle of Wight are cleaning up a mess of debris on Saturday.
VDOT officials closed Benns Church Boulevard from Tan Road to Spring Lake Drive around midnight because of downed trees and power lines. They have since reopened the road, as well as secondary roads that they had to clear.
Thousands lost power in the region Friday night as well, with the majority of customers losing power in the Isle of Wight and Suffolk area.
Robert Taylor, a local farmer in Benns Church, tells 10 On Your Side he follows the weather closely, but nothing could have prepared him for the storm that hit his property Friday night.
“I was at the window and watching these trees go down then ran to the back of the house and seen the trees going that way and the roar I said ‘maybe it’s time I take a little cover,'” Taylor said.
He took cover in his bathroom until the storm passed. When he stepped outside to survey the damage, three of his sheds were torn apart by strong winds and fallen trees.
Some of his crops were also destroyed in the storms path. “The corn got damaged, a bit blown down. I don’t know what the outcome of that will be. The cotton got beat up pretty badly,” said Taylor.
Neighbors and friends of Taylor’s are helping him clean up the damage and debris. He said, “Nothing we can do about it now, except clean up and move on.”
