Photos, videos show historic tornado outbreak across Central Virginia

WTVR CBS channel 6 ^ | 9/17/18 | Channel 6

[iceskater]

RICHMOND, Va. -- As the remnants of Hurricane Florence moved through Virginia Monday, numerous tornadoes formed in what meteorologists are calling a historic tornado outbreak.

[iceskater]

Multiple tornados from the remnants of Hurricane Florence in Richmond, VA today. One fatality.

[lastchance]

My husband’s sister lives in Richmond. The school where she teaches was on lockdown because of the tornadoes. She was not able to leave until after 7.PM.

[palmer]

The magnitude of the event was completely unpredicted. They thought there could be some tornadoes, but they didn’t put up the tornado watch until after the tornadoes. Major forecasting failure.

[iceskater]

Many schools were on lockdown. I’m glad I got home before 7pm. It was a nervous ride home for me. The sky was very ominous. Fortunately, I’m fine. My house and car are fine. Others weren’t as fortunate.

[iceskater]

It was very nerve-wracking for me. The sirens, the text alerts, etc. were unnerving.

Yes, I didn’t hear much all day until the afternoon when all hell broke loose.

[Qiviut]

Very tense afternoon .... under tornado warnings several times.

[PAR35]

The magnitude of the event was completely unpredicted.

True enough. They said it would be a 4 or a 5, and it turned out to be a 1 which quickly degraded to a tropical storm. They were way off on the magnitude.

[tomkat]

Yikes !!

[fella]

Happens all year round here in Texas. you don’t get watchful until the radar shows a hook.

[PAR35]

I just wait until the closest warning loudspeaker starts talking.

I wonder if they even have those over there. Recent immigrants from the north are taken aback the first time they start hearing the voices.

[Deaf Smith]

Local town near me has those Talky Loud Speakers for the yankees that moved in.

Tells them to take cover when it rains.

[lastchance]

I am glad to read that you are fine. My prayers for those who were not so fortunate.

[willyd]

The tornados are the natural effects of a certain quadrant of a hurricane... this is nothing new.

[palmer]

Ironically the same prediction failure. The shear was responsible for the rapid weakening of the storm as it appraoched the coast. None of the models predicted that and the NHC didn't even mention the possibility. And shear again allowed a storm to tilt and spin and form tornadoes around Richnond. Once again, not in the models and not predicted.

The only thing they got sort of right was the storm stalling and dumping lots of rain.

[palmer]

These seemed to be worse than the usual SE quadrant tornadoes.

[willyd]

Or they are getting better at spotting them which provides the same effect

[palmer]

Yes, that is part of the story. In this particular case there were more warnings than during a typical outbreak. There were 28 warnings. Just three long-lived tornadoes and only one briefly reached EF-2. One fatality but that was a fluke.